thebottle Blog

I found myself driving down the same old roads. The same old roads I had driven a million times before. “Another Saturday night and I ain’t got nobody,” the lyrics played on the radio; even though it was Monday, tonight it seemed all too true.

The song ends and a MADD commercial tells me that I am an irresponsible danger to society. This forces me to evaluate my current situation; I am 20 years old, I have no insurance, and I am driving intoxicated on some winding country road without a destination. It would seem they are correct.

Everything is fine as I feel the 9th drink settle in my stomach. Nothing gives you that freewheeling feeling like booze and the open road. Life is so simple here and now, there is no stress or pressure in this cabin. I have the road, I have my booze, and I have my music. This simple yet magical combination allows me to watch as everything ugly in my life slowly diffuses and melts away. Irresponsible danger? Yes, I accept it.

I look into the windows that stream by on the dark country road. So many people living their lives and all so different. Different houses, different jobs, different cars, but are they really different? I see the same flickering glow in the curtains of every house that passes. I think of the whole nation sitting in front of their televisions wasting away. Is this America? Yes, this is our society, this has become the routine life. This is the life everyone struggles to achieve, the American dream, but what is there to this life?

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.” ~Christopher Morley

On average Americans spend over 4 hours of their 16 hour day watching television. 1/4 of a day spent occupying the mind with idle entertainment. What if people stopped watching television? What could be accomplished with all this time?

Would we better our relationships by socializing with family members? Would our imaginations invent something new and useful? Would we study or exercise? The television is far worse than any other bad habit including alcohol and drugs. It is a pacifier of the mind, and it stifles progression. It will consume 1/4 of your life and give nothing in return, not even so much as bad memories. Stop watching television and meliorate your life through reading and learning, imagining and inventing, adventure and discovery, and exercise or socializing.