The Battle Against Mediocrity

Sometimes I find myself wasting hours of time while playing stupid computer games.  It's different if it's Scrabble or something where you are at least using brain cells, but this game, Trio, involves no brain activity whatsoever.  Three at a time, little bubbles of color fall on this 2-D plane.  When three of the same color line up (either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally), they burst and disappear.  I have become obsessed with this game, so much so that I play it repeatedly in the hopes of beating my old high scores.  What's even more pathetic is the fact that I haven't gained a high score in over a month!  I don't even have that to show for my wasted time!

My situation/obsession is not uncommon to the average American.  We waste hours of our time being entertained with little or no growth gained from it.  We watch hours of TV and movies, play video or computer games, and seek easy ways out of doing work.  We are always looking for a "cheat" to help move things along.  Where is our patience?  Where is our desire to learn?  Why don't we play outside any more?  America is hurting itself.  While other countries give value to education by making it competitive and desirable, America allows its citizens to get as little out of education as possible.  Mediocrity is now accepted and even rewarded because we don't want anyone to feel badly about themselves.  I'm all about having high self-esteem, but sometimes you need to fail in order to be motivated to work harder.  Why would I wear myself out if just passing is acceptable?  Is an "A" really worth the work?  I'd rather play Trio.

And we ask why we don't have people like the Founding Fathers.  Can you tell why?  Back in the day, people had to work to survive.  And, they read books . . . . for fun!!  Many of the founders had extensive libraries full of books from all over the world.  They had a desire to learn and study philosophy and economics.  They looked beyond themselves and sacrificed so much for our good.  We must not let their sacrifices be in vain.  Let us work a little harder to do our best.  Why settle for anything less? Let us turn off the TV and computer and go outside or read a book.  Let us help teach our children the value of hard work and patience.  Let us strive to end the epidemic that is sweeping our nation.