One of the saddest things about America is the benefits of technology. Okay, it’s not always sad. The medical field has certainly made great strides; but I have to confess to having a strong dislike of technology. (Ironic I know.) It’s not like I hate it in of itself; but it’s what it does to people. I listened to an episode on my favorite audio drama series in which one character talked about exploration. When we cease to reach higher, according to this guy, we cease to have the qualities that made America, America. When we become content with the way things are. I’m afraid that has happened to many people. In other words, we’ve settled.

We’ve settled for a life of hiding and escaping from our troubles through TV and other electronics. I see commercials frequently that show couch potatoes and phone addicts, (who look like zombies.) Work is hard, relationships are harder, life can be no fun; but we have our shows. We have the news to get our minds off our own problems. Yet…life has no mute or pause button, things tend to get worse the longer you leave them alone. Is this escaping helping us?

We’ve settled for passing instead of excellence. Most of us don’t think we can excel anyway, and it’s just too hard to try. But do the just-get-by-ers change things? Do they have the endurance to stand up to others. Do they have the respect of other people, better yet do they deserve the respect. (Ouch, I know.)

We’ve settled for acceptance of disabilities instead of helping each other to overcome them. Weakness can become strength if enough effort goes into overcoming it. But how can it be overcome if everyone just says it’s normal. Who wants to be normal anyway? (Sorry, Violet Incredible, but I think you figured it out at the end of the movie.)

I’m sure you can think of more things we’ve settled for. Or that you personally have settled for. I am not against contentment; but my definition of it is not just accepting that life sucks and trying to steal a little happiness. What are we accepting anyway? Pause for a moment and consider the world we live in…should we be satisfied? I for one am not. Happiness is a joke if this world is the best we get. Of course, I believe in Heaven. So, no matter how bad the world gets, I have hope. However, I also take this line from The Lord’s Prayer (found in Matthew six) seriously “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Verse 10) this is just one verse that tells me I need to be trying to make this world a better place. I will never fix all–or most of–the problems; but that is not the point. Sometimes it’s easier to look at the widespread “issues” than at the things we dub “microcosms.” The school in our neighborhood, the political correctness everywhere. (Does anyone even know what PC is? Isn’t it basically anything that doesn’t offend political people? Which is nothing.) People are not microcosms. They aren’t statistics. We each come into contact with countless individuals. And to be honest they scare a lot of us. We only see faces. But then someone smiles at us and we smile back. “Nice person” we think. Maybe someone will do a small kindness for us. Hand us something we just dropped, give up their place in line, tell us to have a nice day; and we feel better. these are real people, but they took the time to show a little kindness. That’s all you have to do most of the time. There will be times when the situation calls for more, but just a little kindness covers a lot. If you believe in prayer, than pray more instead of turning to entertainment. Don’t settle for a life of false ease. Fake happiness is just that: fake.

And that’s my thoughts for this article. I hope you enjoyed.