A Member of the Family

"A few months before I was born, my dad met a stranger who was new to our small Tennessee town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer, and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later.

As I grew up I never questioned his place in our family. In my young mind, each member had a special niche. My brother, Bill, five years my senior, was my example. Fran, my younger sister, gave me an opportunity to play 'big brother' and develop the art of teasing. My parents were complementary instructors-- Mom taught me to love the word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it.

But the stranger was our storyteller. He could weave the most fascinating tales. Adventures, mysteries and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our whole family spell-bound for hours each evening.

If I wanted to know about politics, history, or science, he knew it all. He knew about the past, understood the present, and seemingly could predict the future. The pictures he could draw were so life like that I: would often laugh or cry as I watched.

He was like a friend to the whole family. He took Dad, Bill and me to our first major league baseball game. He was always encouraging us to see the movies and he even made arrangements to introduce us to several movie stars. My brother and I were deeply impressed by John Wayne in particular.

The stranger was an incessant talker. Dad didn' t seem to mind-but sometimes Mom would quietly get up-- while the rest of us were enthralled with one of his stories of faraway places-- go to her room, read her Bible and pray. I wonder now if she ever prayed that the stranger would leave.

You see, my dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions. But this stranger never felt obligation to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our house-- not from us, from our friends, or adults. Our longtime visitor, however, used occasional four letter words that burned my ears and made Dad squirm. To my knowledge the stranger was never confronted. My dad was a teetotaler who didn't permit alcohol in his home - not even for cooking. But the stranger felt like we needed exposure and enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer and other alcoholic beverages often.

He made cigarettes look tasty, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (probably too much too freely) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes sugestive, and generally embarrassing. I know now that my early concepts of the man-woman relationship were influenced by the stranger,

As I look back, I believe it was the grace of God that the stranger did not influence us more. Time after time he opposed the values of my parents. Yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave.

More than thirty years have passed since the stranger moved in with the young family on Morningside Drive. He is not nearly so intriguing to my Dad as he was in those early years. But if I were to walk into my parents' den today, you would still see him sitting over in a corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name? We always just called him TV."

-Told by Keith Currie

That story has been around, but for this purpose I sort of borrowed it from Rosewild. Wasn't that good?  Yep, that kind of guest in the house is exempt from the house rules. We have been TV-free in our home since 1988. That is, since we were married. I am sure that we seem to be quite out-of-it when the conversation outside our home involves whatever is in the TV Guide. We don't recognize 98% of the celebrities whose photos are on most of the kids' blogs or on the tabloid covers. But I don't miss it, in fact, I am thankful that we aren't addicted to TV as well as blogging!    I just can't figure out where I would have the time to do both.

One of the great benefits I see in NOT having a television (besides the fact that my family is not being fed wordly philosophy and worldly music all the day long) is that my kids don't need to be visually stimulated to learn something. They are able to sit quietly and listen during church (or pretend to, LOL), and can usually answer when questioned about the sermon. I wonder if a TV habit would give them trouble with their concentration.   ...I am not going to experiment to find out! 

 I think it is incredible how much of our thinking comes from Hollywood.  We think we just have to have the latest whatever to fit in -- latest hairstyle or lack thereof (for head or face), tattoo or piercing, designer clothing item, or portion of flesh exposed. We are encouraged by the TV-world to express our individuality, but we have to do that within certain limits.  You can't be too individual, or you don't fit in. After living as a Hollywood IQ moron for this many years, I'd rather just not conform.  It's safer both physically and spiritually, and hey, it's much cheaper! (King David didn't have a TV, either, see? "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside;  it shall not cleave to me." Psalm 101:3)