Forewarning...

...This is going to be a strange post. For two reasons!
1) I just watched a few vlogbrothers videos, which always make me talk weird (I don't know if other people notice but I do!)
2) It's on a subject I don't particularly enjoy talking about, but for some reason feel compelled to write on.

Media.

It's been a theme in my life for a few days, simply because of the circumstances I've been in. The combined stress of family visiting for the weekend, senior year starting, my youth pastor leaving, 'ending' a relationship with someone I care deeply about, and a few more sensitive things has made me grumpy, irritable, sad, nauseous, and sleep-deprived. It really isn't a whole lot of fun.

So the other night I had just gotten off the phone after an emotional conversation and I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep immediately, and I wandered into the living room thinking: "I just need some mindless TV to get my thoughts off of it." And I sat down, turned on some sitcom like How I Met Your Mother, Friends, or 8 Simple Rules, and turned off my brain for a while.

 Now I'm not usually someone who looks for ways to stop thinking. My brain is a pretty powerful processor, and with obvious exceptions, I like the conclusions it comes up with. But that night I just wanted to stop thinking about everything going on and be somewhere else mentally. A day or so later in either my Psychology or Understanding the Times class (or maybe both) the teacher talked about how everything has a worldview, whether we realize it or not. Music, movies, books, advertisements, TV shows, it all has a worldview that it was filtered through as it was created. And 99% of the time, that worldview is not the same one we hold as Christians. So what does that mean? We enforce some kind of media blackout on ourselves? Only taking in things deemed "Christian"?

No!

But we do have to be discerning. I know personally I don't often 'turn off' my brain when I'm watching TV or listening to music, but I've heard the phrase from my friends before, and the more I think about it, the more it worries me. When we turn off our minds, so to speak, we leave room for whatever we're watching/listening to/reading to plant itself on our brains. The worldview and opinions of the media become lodged in our heads, and with repition, they can get stuck there permanently.

So I guess this is just a warning, or something like that:

Keep your brains turned on.

Ah, Summer...

Well, summer is drawing to a close. Last weekend of the season. Actually, a few of my friends have already gone back to school this last week, but for the most part everyone I know goes back in the next few days, whether its Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. And all over Facebook and Youtube and other networks I see teenagers complaining

"Where did summer go?!"
"This is crap..."
"Why do we start so early?"
"One week left :("

And other such whining. Even my brother groans out loud whenever some one asks if he's excited about school starting up again. On the other hand, there are those few idividuals who can't wait for the new school year. It's all countdowns and exclamations on their Facebook pages.

Both sides are wrong.

At least that's how I feel about it. The last two weeks of summer are always like this, the opposing sides of those dreading school and those anticipating it. I won't lie, previous years I was on one side or the other. This year however, I'm just frustrated by both.

Why not just enjoy it?

It sounds simplistic, but honestly, why worry about it either way? School is going to start whether we want it to or not. Time doesn't slow down or speed up for us. Spend the last few days of summer enjoying it! Not thinking about the new year. You don't have to necessarily cram the last days with activity, because isn't that what we hate about the school year? Just relax everyone. The world isn't ending, it's just school starting.