I had no trouble passing for a conscientious parent until two years ago, when a serious Barbie gaffe occurred right in my home. A mother in the neighborhood we had just moved into stopped by to introduce herself. As her daughter and my daughter, Anna, played upstairs, we self-righteously bashed another pet evil, Disney. Never, we clucked, would we expose our children to such commercialism, such violence, such Technicolor.
"Look!" my new friend's daughter suddenly burst in as she thrust forward a hot-pink plastic case that exuded Barbie. "Look what Anna has!"
I cannot adequately describe the smirk that appeared on my new friend's face at that moment. I can only tell you that I felt like a hooker who had stumbled upon a PTA meeting. Thank God she didn't find the Oreos in my cupboard.
Congressman Cleaver represents my district. He's a former preacher whose political career includes a decent administration as mayor of Kansas City, MO. I'm not a big fan, have never and likely will never vote for him. But he does surprising things from time to time, like refusing to endorse Jesse Jackson's presidential bid in the 1980's and endorsing Hillary Clinton instead of Obama, contrary to what might be expected from a prominent African American.
Recently, Rep. Cleaver apologized for his yes vote regarding the AIG bonuses. As the writer of this article points out, there might be a political calculus in the Congressman's remarks, which my cynical side readily concedes. Still, it is strange but refreshing to hear a member of Congress admit his mistakes.
My friend Darwin Keesee sent me this little story. I'm not a Republican, but it makes a good point nevertheless, regardless of one's politics.
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I recently asked my friend's little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, 'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?'
She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.'
Her parents beamed.
'Wow...what a worthy goal.' I told her, 'But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.'
She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?'
On a recent “Breakpoint” broadcast entitled “Taking a Sabbath from Technology” (March 6, 2009), Mark Earley suggests, “Try this experiment: Shut down your computer, turn off your cell phone, unplug your iPod, hide your Blackberry, and click off the television. Then, pick up a book. Read for an hour. When you’re done, pull out a sheet of paper and write a letter. And then, go for a walk outside.”He suggests fasting from technological communications – for a full 24 hour day in order to reconnect with the simpler life.
I saw this idea as such a good one that I shared it with a few friends, though having no intention of actually doing it myself.I saw no need to.I’m not really addicted to the internet – really, I’m not – and my cell phone, well that’s just a good thing to have in case someone needs to reach me.What better way to keep Sabbath than to stay linked to my friends through the ‘net, and to keep tabs on the fulfillment of prophecy than cable news?
Then one Friday evening I came home from work to be greeted with some strange happenings on my laptop’s screen.We had picked up some kind of bug that kept tormenting my anti-virus software that made the machine almost impossible to use.A call to my provider’s help line kept getting kicked to a higher level of technician, which was fine except the higher up the line I was kicked, the less I was able to decipher their English.
I gave up for a while, plopped myself in the recliner to watch television news (one must keep up on the fulfillment of prophecy), and for no apparent reason the television screen sizzled and popped, and everything – both sound and screen – gave up the ghost.
It was not to be a pleasant weekend for technology in the Cacchio household.But at least now Mark Earley’s commentary had my attention.No television and no internet!What is a guy to do?
Well, let me tell you.Aside from some hours cleaning up my hardware (without meaningful service from customer “service”) and a trip to Walmart for a cheap, serviceable television set, it was one of the most relaxing weekends that I have had in years.Books got read, conversations got initiated, a garden got planted, and outdoors got enjoyed.
More than that, talking heads and internet information services couldn’t fill my head with the latest prognostications of bad news both current and anticipated.The earth might very well hang in the balance, but at least for a weekend I could reconnect with the things that matter for eternity.In fact, I think I’ll do it again, this time without the prodding from electronic glitches.
