The other night I had some plans with friends to go out for
a glass of wine and maybe a light dinner.
For whatever reason I was searching for a way out. I found myself thinking instead about spending
the evening sitting on the couch watching my favorite TV characters. I’m not sure why but meeting up with my flesh
and blood friends seemed like a lot of work, effort and energy that I didn’t
have or want to expend. I went to visit
my friends of course. I had a wonderful
time and as we spent time together I felt our “connection” grow and deepen.
Media and especially the proliferation of interesting TV
series on cable networks have made TV watching so much more interesting and fun.
But are we confusing entertainment with “engagement”?
. It is so easy to interact with our TV
or media friends. They are predictable and comforting in their predictability.
We can turn them on and off when we want to.
But they don’t “engage” us. They don’t challenge us, comfort us, disappoint
us, argue with or care about us.
Let’s be careful that we do not use our TV friends or
media entertainment to avoid or hide from the experiences, joys and challenges
of flesh and blood relationships? Flesh
and blood relationships make us feel vulnerable and can be messy and difficult
but the rewards are amazing as I was reminded one night last week.
