My 8-bit World or Where Have You Gone Super Mario?
What happened to the good old days of Super Mario when the only goal was to rescue Princess Peach from the evil Bowser ? I don't recall the closing celebration featuring the lovely princess stripping down to her birthday suit to show her thankfulness to her hero Mario.
Yesterday I was in Gamestop looking for a new game for my Wii. I'll be the first to admit I am the chronic eavesdropper. I blame it on my constant hunger for observing life around me. Anyway, I notice this 40ish couple come in and head straight to the used 360 games. As I was spying at what game they were hunting, the husband obviously had one in mind because it took him exactly.003 seconds to grab it. Since I didn't get a good look at what they were about to purchase my ears went up to hear what the sales clerk had to say about their purchase. (if you have ever bought a game at gamestop before you know you can't buy anything without a full on review of the game by the clerk)
The first thing the clerk asked was, "There won't be any kids playing this game will there?" Immediately my eavesdropping was on high alert. The wife had a strange look on her face and asked why. The game they were about to purchase was "BMX XXX" and the clerk went on to explain it this way, "The game has a considerable amount of vulgar language and sexual content. You don't just drive BMX bikes. As you play and win races, you unlock strippers who in turn take their clothes off for you. " Busted. The husband had a sheepish grin on his face and the wife just jokingly said, "No wonder you wanted this game so bad".
At that point the wife made eye contact with me and the look of embarrassment was all over her face. Then I noticed her tee shirt. It was the Christian tee shirt with Jesus being crucified on it. The shirt read, "Read between the lines". At the exact moment I was reading her shirt it must have dawned on her what she was wearing. She casually crossed her arms to cover her shirt then gave me a, "I blew it" kind of look with a disappointed frown. I just turned back to my Wii games to save her anymore awkwardness. I think she got the point.
We live in an environment that makes the line between you controlling pop culture and it controlling you paper thin. I'm sure when that wife got dressed that morning to run some errands with her husband, she had no idea she would have to make that choice. Should she stand up to her husband and say no to his game purchase or let the influence of today's pop culture continue to control their lives.
I'm in no way condemning that wife because the Lord knows I've had my fair share of choices to make as it pertains to what to watch, play, listen to, and read. I'd like to think most of the time I make wise decisions. I choose to control the culture around me and my family versus it controlling us. The hard thing is every one's opinion of who's controlling who is very different.
The easy thing to do would be to live in a bubble, void of all cable tv, watching reruns of "Happy days" while playing my 8-bit Super Mario Bros. on my NES.
But I don't Jesus ever said life would be easy. And neither are our video game choices.
Yesterday I was in Gamestop looking for a new game for my Wii. I'll be the first to admit I am the chronic eavesdropper. I blame it on my constant hunger for observing life around me. Anyway, I notice this 40ish couple come in and head straight to the used 360 games. As I was spying at what game they were hunting, the husband obviously had one in mind because it took him exactly.003 seconds to grab it. Since I didn't get a good look at what they were about to purchase my ears went up to hear what the sales clerk had to say about their purchase. (if you have ever bought a game at gamestop before you know you can't buy anything without a full on review of the game by the clerk)
The first thing the clerk asked was, "There won't be any kids playing this game will there?" Immediately my eavesdropping was on high alert. The wife had a strange look on her face and asked why. The game they were about to purchase was "BMX XXX" and the clerk went on to explain it this way, "The game has a considerable amount of vulgar language and sexual content. You don't just drive BMX bikes. As you play and win races, you unlock strippers who in turn take their clothes off for you. " Busted. The husband had a sheepish grin on his face and the wife just jokingly said, "No wonder you wanted this game so bad".
At that point the wife made eye contact with me and the look of embarrassment was all over her face. Then I noticed her tee shirt. It was the Christian tee shirt with Jesus being crucified on it. The shirt read, "Read between the lines". At the exact moment I was reading her shirt it must have dawned on her what she was wearing. She casually crossed her arms to cover her shirt then gave me a, "I blew it" kind of look with a disappointed frown. I just turned back to my Wii games to save her anymore awkwardness. I think she got the point.
We live in an environment that makes the line between you controlling pop culture and it controlling you paper thin. I'm sure when that wife got dressed that morning to run some errands with her husband, she had no idea she would have to make that choice. Should she stand up to her husband and say no to his game purchase or let the influence of today's pop culture continue to control their lives.
I'm in no way condemning that wife because the Lord knows I've had my fair share of choices to make as it pertains to what to watch, play, listen to, and read. I'd like to think most of the time I make wise decisions. I choose to control the culture around me and my family versus it controlling us. The hard thing is every one's opinion of who's controlling who is very different.
The easy thing to do would be to live in a bubble, void of all cable tv, watching reruns of "Happy days" while playing my 8-bit Super Mario Bros. on my NES.
But I don't Jesus ever said life would be easy. And neither are our video game choices.
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