Money Winter 1998

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Several weeks back my wife, Anne, volunteered to babysit a friend's 18-month-old daughter over a weekend. When she arrived with the girl in tow, I hadn't a clue what to do. One can't talk books or politics with babies, after all. So I retreated into a newspaper and pretended she wasn't there. But with dinner came the time of reckoning, for there she sat, burbling, less than two feet away, and I couldn't help but look at her, nor she at me. So we stared at each other a while. And when she smiled, she won me over. "What a cute little girl," I thought. "What a beautiful little girl."

But it wasn't long till my mind turned to a disconcerting question. I asked Anne what the odds were that this lovely girl would spend at least 20 percent of her life sitting in front of a TV. Anne said that given what she knew about the girl's home life, the odds of that happening were pretty high. That, we agreed, was a shame. And then we returned to a conversation we never tire of taking up, because at its heart is a commitment we have made to one another—namely, that we will never, never, never allow a television into our home. Our little visitor reminded us why.

For if we had a baby girl of our own, Anne said, and if we wanted her to grow up believing that her body and mind were precious, why would we provide her with an opportunity to see sex, marriage, and meaningful conversation trivialized day after day? And if we had a boy whom we wanted to grow into a man able to temper his passions, why would we provide him with an occasion to watch televised assault, murder, and rape followed by beer and toothpaste commercials—as if rape could be brushed away like bad breath. And if we wanted our children to embrace the rich and ancient Christian faith ...

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