Put down the controller and back away slowly...

By Rich Bordner

Sunday night, I had a true blue C.S Lewis moment*. I was watching history in the making; Michael Phelps was about to win his 8th gold medal at Beijing. No one has done that in the history of the cosmos. It was one of those moments that people will bring up 30 years from now: "where were you when Michael won his 8th?" No last name needed. Michael will suffice. Everyone will know who that is.

And yet, there was a friend of mine...with headphones snugly on his ears, as he played a video game on his computer...that he had been playing for the last 4-5 hours.

I snagged his attention and insisted he watch the event. He complied, then promptly went back to his video game, missing another historic moment; Jamaica's Usain Bolt becoming the first human being to run under 9.70 seconds in the 100m dash in track and field. What's more, he did it while practically jogging the last 20 meters. It is truly scary to imagine what his time would have been had he not eased up in the race.

Are you kiddin' me? These were two of many moments of this Olympics that have brought goosebumps, but my friend was tinkering away on a STINKIN' VIDEO GAME!!

This insanity only served to increase my disgust for video games. Yeah, allright, a little is ok. 20 minutes a day, tops...and that's pushing it. But past that, what possible good can video games bring? While you are puttin' away on World of Warcraft, you are missing out on soooo much drama, so much good stuff, so much...well...life!

There are a lot of things out there that diminish your soul's capacity to take part in and enjoy other, more substantial things. For example, pornography diminishes the soul's capacity to love one's spouse. Watching too much TV can diminish the mind's stamina when it comes to reading. When you haven't eaten for a week, a juicy steak can throw your digestive system into a tailspin.

I have to wonder if video games, played even in small amounts, are in that category. I think last night gave me my answer.

"But Rich, maybe he just isn't into sports."
Bullfeathers. You don't even have to be a sports fan to see my point. Even if you've never watched a sporting event in your life, what transpired last night is still mind-bogglingly impressive, not to mention the fact that those events will be remembered for centuries to come. Plus, its not like we're talking pro football or baseball. Its THE OLYMPICS, the ONLY time where you will see so many different nations and peoples come together peaceably and celebrate our humanity. So much blood, sweat, and tears go into even one Olympic berth that someone with zero interest in sports should be able to appreciate it.

"But video games are fun and help people relax."
So...there are sooo many other things out there that are more fun and relax you more...like watching history being made with a few good friends. What's more, many (though not all) of these other things actually enrich you...they strengthen your social skills, your relationship with God, your mind, and your body. What do video games enrich, your thumbs?

Put down the Xbox controller. Get out of your mom's basement and take part in the drama of life. Pick up a book. Talk to someone. Get out. Go on a run. Go dancing. Get a date. Pray. ANYTHING but the Wii.

*...Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
C.S Lewis, "The Weight of Glory"

There is no Charge for Awesomeness...or Attractiveness

By Rich Bordner

I saw KungFu Panda last week. It was a very well done movie, quite entertaining, and quite funny.

As a teacher and a coach, I also appreciated one of the themes. Sometimes, the temptation of teachers and coaches is to be enamored with the ones who show great potential right from the start. We can readily see these talented individuals becoming champions, so we focus our time on them, to the neglect of the not-so-talented. This was Shifu's error. He did not see the awkward, fat, incredibly-out-of-shape, over-eating Panda's potential, so he completely ignored him.

However, there were some themes in the movie that we should guard against. The Oprah-New-Age stuff, of course, was problematic ("you just need to believe;" "there is no secret ingredient, only you."), but that's for another blog. It's the whole "believe in yourself and follow your dreams" bit that I'm addressing here.

You see, as a culture, we've created a bit of a monster. We tell kids that if they just believe in themselves, they can do/accomplish anything they want.

There's nothing wrong with a healthy bit of confidence in one's training and hard work, and there's nothing wrong with having dreams. The problem is that we spout these unqualified aphorisms out at them ("believe in yourself, follow your dreams!"), then we're surprised when they take us at our word and show up on American Idol without a hint of training and thoroughly embarrass themselves. When the judges give them a harsh bit of reality, more often than not these types turn up their noses and self-righteously march out, saying "What do they know? I'M A STAR! They're just jealous." Never mind that Simon, et al have been doing the talent scout thing ever since the stone age, and they've seen it all.

This just goes to show that we need to stop with the aphorisms and sprinkle our words with a dose of reality. This is not pessimism; this is just a plea for balance. It's good to have dreams...but not all dreams are equal (The dreams of fame and fortune are very much inferior to the dreams of starting a soup kitchen for the poor.).

It's good to believe in yourself...well, not really...you're not all that hot.

Yes, you can do it...but success will come only after decades of slow progress and much failure.

And in the end, if you find yourself entertaining delusions of grandeur, put the mic down and focus on getting that engineering degree that your parents have sacrificed so much for...William Hung, this means you.

Why Engage the Culture?

This article in City Journal by Andrew Klavan is a great summary of why conservatives need to be engaged in the culture. Here's a few key paragraphs:

Beating poverty in America nowadays is largely a matter of personal behavior. Get a high school diploma, don’t have kids until you’re married, don’t get married until you’re 21, and you probably won’t be poor. It also helps if you work hard, show up on time, act courteously, and avoid anything felonious.

But where are these kids going to learn such things? It’s the stuff you just sort of absorb in a healthy, traditional, two-parent home, and that’s exactly what they’re missing. If they learn what they’ve lived, they’re done for--the girls too likely to “come out pregnant” like their mothers, the boys to be underemployed and maybe even do time.

You can’t legislate responsibility, either. Personal behavior in a free society has to be a matter of choice--choice without which there is no virtue--virtue without which a society can’t be free.

It seems to me that leaves these kids only one recourse: the culture. Where the institution of family is broken, only the surrounding culture can teach people the inner structures required for a life of liberty.

Many conservatives often seem to have given up on culture or not to care. There’s a strong strain of philistinism on the right. When we talk about “culture wars,” we usually mean preventing the courts from redefining marriage or promoting abstinence instead of birth control: culture, in other words, as the behavioral branch of politics.

Culture, in the true sense, is more than that. It’s the whole engulfing narrative of our values. It’s the stories we tell. Leftists know this. These kids get an earful from the Left every day. Their schools serve up black history in a way guaranteed to alienate them from the American enterprise. Their sanctioned reading list denies boys the natural fantasies of battling villains and protecting women from harm. Any instinct the girls might have that their bodies and their self-respect are interrelated is negated by the ubiquitous parable of celebrity lives. And I hardly need mention the movies and TV shows that endlessly undermine notions of manly self-discipline, feminine modesty, patriotism, and all the rest.

Conservatives respond to this mostly with finger-wagging. But creativity has to be answered with creativity. We need stories, histories, movies of our own. That requires a structure of support--publishing houses, movie studios, review space, awards, almost all of which we’ve ceded to the Left.

If you read the whole article, you'll also see a really heartbreaking anecdote about an entire classroom of students who didn't understand why someone's last name would be the same as her father's.

As Klavan says, we can't afford to withdraw from the world, or to wag our fingers and judge the culture as wrong without offering an alternative. Even if we can't personally go out and make a great movie, we can at least support good conservative offerings. We can also talk to our friends and neighbors about the culture and encourage them to check out some of the positive influences out there.

Movie: The Ultimate Gift

This would be a great movie to rent and watch with the fam during the holidays.

Check out theultimategift.com to watch the trailer.

Visit PluggedInOnline.com for a review of this movie and others.

Movie: Bella

There’s a new independent film that has been garnering rave reviews. The movie is called Bella. It recently won the Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award. Past recipients of this award included: Chariots of Fire; American Beauty; Life is Beautiful; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; and Hotel Rwanda.

Check out bellathemovie.com to see when this film is playing near you. For more information on Bella and to see videos of the lead actor's testimony, go to bellafaithemails.com

Visit PluggedInOnline.com for a review of this movie and others.

Movie review: Golden Compass

In a Citizenlink.org article entitled, “Golden Compass Reveals a World Where There is No God,” Adam Holz, associate editor for Focus on the Family's Plugged In magazine and Web site, called the series "heretical." He further states:

“Pullman has been openly hostile about C.S. Lewis, and has been pretty clear about his desire to offer an alternate fantasy series based on what he would describe as humanist principles.”

Visit PluggedInOnline.com for a review of this movie and others.