I was in the car the other day listening to a Christian
radio station when they started talking about the film Avatar. Now I don’t have
any idea what this movie is about all I know is that they spent half a billion
dollars making this movie and I went ballistic.
I started yelling at the radio, things like “do you know how
many orphans that could feed”? I
was terribly upset and vowed at that moment that I would never see that movie.
As time as gone by since returning I have found one of my
biggest struggles to be the amount of money we as Americans spend
on
entertainment. But it doesn’t stop there. What has really started to hit me is
that not only do we spend absurd amounts of money on entertainment but because
we do this we have started to demand that our forms of entertainment get better
and better. Thus creating the ‘need’ for Hollywood to spend 500 million dollars
on a single movie in order for millions of people to go see it. But it doesn’t
stop there. What about the opening ceremony at the Olympics in Beijing China 2
years ago. It is estimated that over 100 million dollars was spent on the 4
hour long performance to open up the Olympics. Now don’t get me wrong it was
amazing but was it necessary?
We are demanding that things be done to a standard that can
only be met by spending outrageous amounts of money. The thing about this is
that we are simply searching for something to capture our attention for a few
hours to make us ‘happy’ and wonder why after a 2 hour movie and $20 down the
drain we walk out feeling empty. We are searching for something to fill us up
in all the wrong places. We turn to the enjoyment of the Wii, facebook, movies,
sporting events etc to fill a void in our lives but we walk away with nothing less
than a 5 minute high and wonder what’s next to fill that empty spot.
If we spent half the time DOING things to fill this spot and
simply spent time BEING with God we would find that our lives instantly take on
much more meaning. We are not going to find meaning in our lives by spending
copious amounts of money and time on meaningless forms of entertainment.
We no longer, as a society, value spending time with one
another. We don’t spend the time to get to know our neighbors anymore much less
the people we go to church with. We are so caught up in ourselves and what will
make us content that we are missing out on the opportunity God has put right in
front of us. A relationship with Him and those around us.
In response to all of this I am currently boycotting all
movies. I would rather spend time with you having coffee or playing a board
game than going to the movies. I know I am not the only person who feels this
way. But I have heard to often that “I am only 1 person and I can’t change
anything so I’m not going to try”. You know what, if all those “1 persons”
would step up and do what they are talking about the world would begin to
change.
BE THAT ONE PERSON WHO STANDS UP TODAY. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF WE
ARE WILLING TO STEP UP AND CHANGE SOMETHING.
