Media

Have you ever thought about how much we as a society and individuals allow the media to dictate our lives? We allow both good and bad news to affect our moods, our security and our spending. We allow ads, pictures and magazines to help us determine the next cool thing to buy, be it clothes, gadgets or otherwise. We allow songs to speak to us...they help explain good times, bad times and loving times in our lives. We see ourselves or who we want to be in characters on tv and in movies. We enjoy the entertainment of books and reading about lives that aren't ours....

Lately, I have indulged in two forms of media and for very different reasons. The first is the tv show Brothers & Sisters. My friend Chandra introduced this show to me and it has quickly become my favorite tv show...I just can't seem to get enough of it. This is for a few reasons. First, you can see how much this family loves each other and I think all of us deep down want a family that gets together often and loves each other despite our flaws and differences. Also, with so many kids, there is someone on the show that each one of us can relate to in one way or another. After getting all caught up with seasons one and two, I have now decided that I want a big family like the Walkers, so five kids it is! Ian has told me we should wait and see how one goes before we decide on five, but five sure looks fun!


The second is the book, The Last Lecture. If you aren't familiar, this book (which is non-fiction) is by a guy who is dieing and he is giving his last lecture as a professor...this lecture is not just for his students and colleagues, but is something for his children to watch when they are older so they can know what type of guy their father was. This book moved me because it made me have to examine how I am living my life. No one knows when they are going to die and we all need to live our lives in a way that we would be proud of no matter when we go...this means loving to the best of our ability, always giving what matters our everything, forgetting the small stuff and more.

Though I think we need to be careful what type of media we allow into our heads and how much of it we allow, I think it is alright to indulge from time to time...and I definitely think all of you should be indulging in both of the above!