"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
It wasn't until I watched a couple of complete episodes from The Walton's that I began to see that we live in a society that celebrates death. We live in a 24-7 news world where every station is competing for our attention. The stations that seem to get the most viewers are the ones that can do the best job sensationalizing the news. It isn't enough for the commentator to tell us that all on board died, but now we have to see the blood stained outline of the body at the scene of the incident and better yet a picture of the grotesque looking body.
Night after night we are bombarded with entertainment shows (if you can call it entertainment) like CSI, Law and Order, Special Victims Unit with it's onslaught of grotesque scenes in high definition color. Scenes that leave a permanent impression in our mind.
At Halloween we dress our little children in costumes that glorify death. Ghosts, skeletons, Zombies with make believe blood are some of examples of what we do with our kids. Our schools do assignments like Zombie Apocalypse.
Where is the danger some might ask in all of this? The danger is we are raising a generation of kids hooked on the adrenaline of stress and worst hopelessness. Is it any wonder why our young people are discontinuing attending church the moment they graduate from high school? After being bombarded with shows like these that teach them how evil society is they become complacent and begin believing that the world really is evil and there is no hope.
Which is why I started watching some of the Walton's episodes on Youtube. A show in another era that reflected the family values that are so lacking in today's culture. A show about a multiple generation family growing up during the depression and the life lessons that came out of that experience. A show where kids actually listened to their parents for advice. In this scene from the Walton's Jim Bob is encouraged to tell momma about his desire to ride motorcycles.
My own Mom often would often say to me 'what you put into your mind comes out, or garbage in, garbage out'. With the filth that is coming out of Hollywood is it any wonder why we are stressed?
Which is why programs like 'the Walton's were special. Our Sunday nights ended with the life lessons from the Walton family. We could go to sleep with the understanding that family values and faith do matter. I encourage you to watch some of the full episodes with your family and you will discover that the Walton's were a timeless treasure with stories that are every bit as relevant for today's generation as the one I grew up in.
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