My PBS

It's been over a year since I canceled my direct tv for the sake of paying more attention to my family and to cut off the trash that makes up most of cable television and to tell you the truth I haven't missed it. Sure there is the occasional sporting event I would like to watch that I can't but it's really not that big of a deal.

What only having a few channels to watch has forced me to do is watch things I normally wouldn't have. For instance, Beth and I have been watching this great documentary on PBS this week about these two "Country Boys". They live in rural KY and some guy basically followed their lives for most of 3 years and made a film of it. I can't begin to describe the lives these 2 boys live. One had his dad shoot his step mom and kill her at a strip club where she was stipper then kill himself. He now lives with his grandmother and plays in a heavy metal Christian band. The other has an alcoholic father and a deadbeat mom who blames everyone else in the world for their problems instead of taking responibility herself. Both teens are struggling to make it through High School and it leaves you in shock that people still live the way they do here in America.

All of this has left me thinking about how much we all take for granted. I don't care how bad you think you have it there is always someone out there worse off then you. These kids really have about a 1% chance to make it out of the horrible lives they lead. We on the other hand sit around and moan and complain because we want things handed to us by others or God and get mad when we don't get it. We have or had opportunities to make major life changes and we either failed to take advantage of them or we make some really poor choices that leave us struggling to catch up. But instead of learning from our mistakes or our past circumstances we want to blame everyone else and make up every excuse in the world why we "can't" do something or get what we want.

I know I'm rambling so I'll try to say what I'm feeling as clear as possible: Those two boys don't have much of a chance at all because of the lives they were born into. They're very poor, uneducated, have horrific home lives, feel no motivation to change the cycle they are in, and get very little positive support from anyone. How many opportunities for a good education have we passed up? How many times do we take our families for granted when God knows they could be a lot worse? How many times do we fail to get off our lazy behinds and do something productive with our lives and instead sit around all day wishing we had what "they" have? How many people is it going to take to "believe in us" until we finally step up and change some of our self destructive habits and behaviors?

And that's just the physical aspect of what I see and feel. Don't get me started on our wasted "spiritual" opportunities.

Comments

Unknown said…
Good point Mike! Very easy to sit around and whine. You do a good job in your ministry by encouraging people to help others that are less fortunate. I think it helps people "wake up" and realize that they can be a force for good and change in this world.

Popular posts from this blog

My "Crazy Love" Small Group Discussion Questions

Her Story: Does Satan really exist? Many United Methodists see evil as more subtle.

My Office Quotes: Goodbye, Toby (Plus my thoughts on the Finale and Office Spin-off news)