THE "STRANGER" - Comments?
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
-author unknown.
A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new
to our small 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 from then on.
As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young
mind, he had a special niche.
My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good
from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger... he was
our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with
adventures, mysteries and comedies. If I wanted to know anything
about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers
about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to
predict the future!
He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made
me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking,
but Dad didn't seem to mind. Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly
while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he
had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet.
(I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)
Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions,but the
stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example,
was not allowed in our home - not from us, our friends or any
visitors. Our long time visitor, however, got away with four-letter
words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my
mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol
but the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He
made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished.
He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments
were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally
embarrassing.. I now know that my early concepts about relation-
ships were influenced strongly by the stranger.
Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was
seldom rebuked ... And NEVER asked to leave. More than fifty
years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family.
He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he
was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today,
you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for
someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.
His name?.... We just call him 'TV'.
(The average Westerner watches about 12 YEARS of television
in his or her lifetime. Yes - 12 YEARS. I wonder what it has done
to our generation that we are not even aware of?)
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