There is so much going on in the world right now that it hard to keep up. We are seeing old ways of government crumble, old ways of thinking are being changed and old ideas about how people should live being turned upside down. Could this mean that people might become more accepting of one another? With social media we are being more exposed to different lifestyles and therefore seeing people differently, for sure. But what about reality TV? Some may say that reality TV is horrible, stupid, unbelievable or just plain ridiculous, but I think that some of it gives us a glimpse into the lives of people that we wouldn't ordinarily get to see. We can go from seeing the life of a guy who lives in the swamp and wrestles alligators for a living, to seeing housewives living large in Beverly Hills. We can see how dangerous it is to crab fish in Alaska or the party life in New Jersey. Even if we do not approve of any one persons way of living, maybe by watching these people's lives being portrayed on TV we can start to become more aware and accepting of the different lifestyles people live. Maybe we can look at the lives of other people and see it from the perspective of it being their life, not ours. Maybe we can start to understand, people are people and live differently depending on where they are raised. I would say that is a gift, not ridiculous.
There is some ridiculous stuff on TV, don't get me wrong. But, its all about perception. When we read "ridiculous stuff" each one of us probably thinks something different. Its all in how we perceive "ridiculous". Each person has there own way of defining it. The diversity of us is what makes our world. We can't say one way of living is right and one way of living is wrong, because, it just is. It has more to do with where we are raised and what we are taught, than it has to do with right and wrong. My prayer is that we would stop labeling people and stop putting people in boxes. My prayer is that we would realize that we have 99% more in common with each other than we do different from each other. The 1% difference in us, is our perceptions. That's it, perception. And with our perceptions we can hurt people when we use them to put a negative label on others. And then, consequently those hurt people, hurt people. Then we end up with over crowded prisons, because we have taught our children to look at, "that way of living", as wrong, or to look at, "those people", as different, so they are wrong. That's the thinking that causes separation and violence. Which creates negative energy, which creates a different kind of world than what the 99% of what we all have in common, really wants. Because all any of us want, and that means everybody, is to be noticed, heard, respected for our opinion and to make the best life for us and our family. That's it, and there is nothing negative about any of that. Its when we try to put our perceptions on other people that we create negative energy, which translates to separation and chaos.
So, listen, I am not here to be this big advocate for reality TV, because I don't have to be, their ratings speak for themselves. All I am saying is that it shows something about our nature when we see that these reality TV shows are so popular. It shows that we really do want to know what other people are doing. We really do want to see into the lives of people who live differently than us, to get a sense of who they are. There is something deep within us that wants to connect with other people in some profound way. There is a reason for everything. There is no good or bad, there just is. I pray that we would embrace the concept of perception, because it is moving us in a direction of unity. It makes us realize that our ideas and belief's; our judgments and prejudices are just a result of how and where we were raised.. The evolution of us as humans is to realize that we are all connected. What happens in the inner cities affects our nation, what happens in the bayous of our swamps affects our nation, what happens in our suburbs, towns and communities affects our nation. How we live our individual lives and what we teach our children affects our community, our state, and our nation as a whole. If when we and/or our children are watching these reality TV shows, we should try to look at them in a different way, using them as a teaching tool for our children and ourselves to see that we are all different, and that, is not necessarily a bad thing.
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