My anniversary is tomorrow. I’ll come back to this in a minute. I don't watch much TV. I used to be a cable news junkie before I moved to New England, but cable prices here are outrageous! There must be a vast left wing conspiracy at work here to keep middle class America from watching FoxNews. But that’s another story for another time. No, I don’t watch much TV primarily because the quality of Prime Time Programming is at an all time low. I used to enjoy a good sitcom in the evening, something like Seinfeld or Tim The Tool Man Taylor, but today I can't say I find the likes of Will and Grace even mildly entertaining. The dramas aren’t much better, either. They tend to be a depressing lot of uncreative plots portraying crimes against – insert your cause celeb – by today’s faddish victims’ group. Left wing, agenda driven and depraved – the Will and Grace show is depraved – programming is something I’m just not interested in viewing. I have to deal with that behavior enough when I’m trying to get the News. So suffice it to say, I tend to skip TV these days, lest I believe Operation Iraqi Freedom is really about American Imperialism and Oil interests in the Middle East. Still, this activity is nothing new. What is new is the new-fangled agenda distribution method called Reality TV. The reality TV mantra has evidently hooked the prized 18-40 year old demographic, despite my utter incomprehension with the entertainment value of eating live worms while being submerged in a coffin of pig entrails. But now I get it. Everything preceding the recent round of sex driven reality TV was to dumb down the audience so no one would be shocked. Yes, we’ve cracked the sex code. I can dismiss the worms for mere foolishness, but I draw the line at degrading families, relationships and marriage. This past Monday night, while doing some chores for my wife while she was out, I happened to see Fox’s Married By America. In predictable Fox fashion, the introduction to the Married By America web site says the following: Marriage is a sacred union between two people who have grown together over time…… Fox Says #@*% That! The premise to this show (my synopsis here – if you want the Network’s version click the link above) was simple: two “relationship challenged” couples, previously unknown to each other, were engaged without ever having met and were set on the reality TV road to a Prime Time Marriage. If they fell in love and were married, they would win a cash prize; if they married and were voted “most compatible” they would have won an even bigger cash prize; BUT, no marriage no money. Here is my ‘top ten’ of what Fox is telling us about marriage: 1. Relationship experts actually know something about relationships. 2. It’s ok to shack up (read have sex with) before marriage. 3. Commitment – who needs it? 4. If it doesn’t work out, get a divorce – no big deal. 5. Money is everything in life. 6. Just follow your feelings – if it feels so right just do it. 7. Episcopalian ministers – (I wish I didn’t believe the collar was an effort to make it look like a Catholic priest condoning the event) – will, without reservation or counseling, marry you knowing full well what you’ve been up to. 8. Family members who object to your behavior and choices are ridiculed for their antiquated – read prude – beliefs. 9. Weddings are just for show anyway – who cares about the relationship and commitment. 10. There is nothing sacred about marriage. This is wrong on so many levels I don’t know where to start, but here’s my perspective in light of my anniversary tomorrow: First and foremost, I love my wife. I love my wife more than anyone or anything else on or of this earth. She is among many other things to me, my best friend, my confidant, and when necessary, my kick in the pants. I am wholly dependent on her love and her presence in my life, and when she’s not around, I’m lost. So it is only logical that, being married to my wife, that I regard highly the idea of marriage. Yet even prior to my very personal spiritual reawakening over this past year, I explicitly understood the sanctity of marriage. I always have and always will, due largely in part to the fact that I am fortunate to have had a very stable and loving family all my life; both my parents and my in-laws are over 30 years married each. Excuse the cliché though, but marriage is one of the most sacred of human institutions and is not, as Fox would have you believe, something to be entered lightly; it involves a tremendous amount of commitment and responsibility. Divorce on demand is not an acceptable or responsible behavior – commitment is. See this site for extensive research on how divorce is a principal factor in the American cultural collapse. Pre-marital sex is wrong. Outside of the theological implications, of which there are many, practically speaking it leads overwhelmingly to pregnant un-wed teens and the spread of STDs, as well as contributing heavily to the abortion on demand Culture of Death. Weddings are not for “show.” They are for a man and a woman in the presence of friends and family (read witnesses) a time to publicly proclaim before each other and God that they not only love each other, but also are committed to each other for life no matter what. In case you didn’t realize it before, a wedding’s purpose is not subtle – IT’S HUGE! So where does this Fox program leave me as my Anniversary approaches? Yes while I resent the propaganda, the dumbing down of basic societal norms and the blatant moral equivalence broadcast this past Monday night in prime time (read to audiences filled with young kids), I am not without hope. First I am reassured that the Church throughout the world is strong and her message is reaching untold numbers of youngsters. Second, it is clear now, after the 1992-2000 hiatus that America is on its way back to understanding the difference between right and wrong. But equally important, I am comforted by the strength of my own marriage and my personal understanding of what my wife and I entered into nearly four years ago. There is no question that I am blessed to be married to this wonderful woman. I am also reminded that while I am fortunate, many people I will never know do not have it as well. I will make a concerted effort to pray for them more often, that Christ may be a driving force in their marriages as he is in mine. After all, Easter is approaching.

posted by Michael Lee on 4/16/2003 05:54:00 PM | link |

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Having trouble publishing. Think it's fixed now.

posted by Michael Lee on 4/16/2003 05:49:00 PM | link |

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Tuesday, April 15

What a glorious day! Spring has finally come to this little part of New England. 75 degrees, soft breeze, brilliant sunshine and clear blue skies. Does it get any better than this?

posted by Michael Lee on 4/15/2003 12:24:00 PM | link |

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Monday, April 14

Be back tomorrow.

posted by Michael Lee on 4/14/2003 01:03:00 PM | link |

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Sunday, April 13

Today was truly an amazing day - fitting for Palm Sunday. Today, in liberated Iraq, 3% of the population was able to celebrate Passion Sunday for the first time since Saddam Hussein first seized power; 97% of the population could gather throughout the day for prayer in the same worry free fashion. Today there was no persecution - today there was no fear - today there were no underground prayer services .... nothing. It was likely the most beautiful form of nothing a persecuted population has seen in over a quarter century. It was, undoubtedly another blessing from God - yet another in a series that has become self evident since this liberation began on March 19, 2003. Also today, 7 Americans listed as POWs (the five remaining soldiers from the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, 507th Maintenance Brigade, and the two Apache Helicopter Pilots) were rescued outside Tikrit. If it is not yet blatantly obvious that your prayers are working, let today's events be an example that God is listening. Keep Praying - it works!

posted by Michael Lee on 4/13/2003 10:11:00 PM | link |

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