Death before the end of television

Many people I know don’t like that rectangular box in their living rooms, which they call a television. They say it’s unhealthy, none educational and a waste of time. Millions of people sit on their couches, eat and watch television all day. They waste their lives away by living through fictitious characters portrayed by anorexic, dimwitted and plastic actor and actresses. Many blame it for the increase in North American obesity that plague our society. But for me, I will always vote to keep my television.

As far as I can remember, I’ve always watched television. Elmo taught me the alphabet; count Dracula taught me to count and every other character that has ever passed my television screen has brought me sanity. My life, as many others, is f&%#$ up. I know that there is no running away from our realities, but why not just get away from it for a few hours?

I can’t say I was the happiest child when I was younger. I admit I had my fair share of crying in my day and still in my current days. I got tired of crying, I got tired of letting my mind race on and on about what happened, what should have happened and what I should do; many things that were out of my hands. I got tired of thinking and living in the moment of my frustration and depression.

What’s wrong with television, really? If we choose shows that we like of which we are able to distinguish the difference between fantasy from reality, right from wrong, and what is a healthy amount to watch and what isn’t. I was never able to submerge myself into a book when I was upset, it just wasn’t distracting enough, it never progressed fast enough, and it never let my mind completely let go of whatever that was suffocating me. My mind would go blank, it wouldn’t think, it wouldn’t remember what was bothering me and it let me leave my life. For those brief hours I was able to breath; my tears would stop running; my mind stopped screaming; I was just able to be.

I am an obsessive “what if” person. To let me think on my own would be to let a puppy run loose on the streets. It would run and run and run and eventually get hit by a car somewhere a few blocks down the road. The puppy needs to be kept on a leash, to keep it safe from harm. I am sure that for a numerous handful of people out there would accuse television of many negative things but for me, it is my refuge. You may not see it the way I do, but for me, television has kept my sanity.