YOU Can Change Culture
We have given in and given up. We have allowed culture to shape us, rather than us, shaping culture. We have maxed credit cards, lived outside of our means, had smaller families and bigger houses, purchased our produce and sent mom off to work in order to meet the bills and ensure that little Jimmy has the latest iPhone, designer clothes and a car when he turns 16. We have avoided our families and neighbours because our self-inflicted, busy lives keep our schedules plum full.
“History shows that when the church accommodates culture, it weakens it.”
~ Rick Warren
I can sit here and rant all day about how our generation has messed up and been sucked into the media-driven culture we’ve helped create, but that will not change anything either.
WE CONTROL CULTURE
If you were to stop by my home on any given day, you might find my TV tuned into the latest episode of Secret Millionaire, me working on my Mac or the kids outside jumping with friends on the trampoline that our gracious neighbour blessed us with. You will see my family enjoying meals together three times a day. You will also find sacrifices we’ve made in order to have my wife at home with our four children. You will see an amazing woman who cans fresh produce from our garden, packs healthy lunches for the kids, does mounds of laundry and cleaning and keeps everything running smoothly and peacefully. Without my gorgeous wife, I would not survive. (Prov 18:22)
We have been on a journey of simplifying our lives realizing that the friendships and memories we create are much more valuable then more movies, gadgets and selfish pursuits. We spend more time with our children and are able to guide them when they are going through something.
When we watch a TV show or movie, we try and only watch what our kids can watch with us. We often find ourselves muting or completely turning off the TV for certain commercials that are not kid-friendly. We avoid watching media driven events and awards shows, but we always seem to hear the highlights of the show less than an hour after they occur. It seems that every few months we see another publicity stunt pulled by an attention-seeking celebrity in order to be in the spotlight. The less time we give to planned #celebrity shock campaigns, the less we will see. There is a saying in show business “Even negative publicity is still publicity.”
If we give attention to that which is good, worthy, upright and pure, we will see more of the same.
It’s so easy to talk, tweet or update our status with the latest outrageous celebrity gossip, but when we hold our tongue, their name is not shouted from the roof tops. When social media statistics tell us that a celebrity’s planned shock campaign broke tweet records on Twitter, we should realize that Twitter and other social media sites are run by you and me.
“A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
Rather than giving celebrities and media mongers what they want, give them a good news story. We can turn social media into “Chicken Soup for the Soul” by posting good material that is uplifting, pure, and true. When we think to ourselves, “We cannot change culture”, we do not realize that we already have.
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