Changing the Channel
One day while I was watching television I accidentally brought in an out-of-town station. After considerable effort I managed to bring in a reasonably good picture. The picture kept fading in and out, so I had to sit with one hand on the aerial and the other on the knobs. Well, the more I struggled to keep from losing the picture, the more interesting the movie became. My brother then walked in the room. He watched as I struggled to keep the picture tuned in. He casually walked over to the television and switched the channel to a local station saying, “Why are you watching that on that channel? The same movie in being shown down here.” He walked away and I sat back. Yeah, that is really a clear picture. I can really see what’s happening now. I don’t have to fool with all those knobs and aerial now, I thought. Well, the more I sat there the less interested I became in the movie. I walked over to the television, watched it a little while longer and turned it off!
CONSIDER, when the adventure of bringing in a far off channel was removed, the movie lost that little something that made it worth watching. It was not the movie alone that kept my interest, it was my involvement in it. Turning the knobs, adjusting the aerial, following closely the characters on a snowy screen, that’s what made the movie worth watching. When all of that became unnecessary, when all I had to do was sit back and watch, then what I was keenly interested in only moments before suddenly lost its appeal.
I suppose most of us could stand for our channel to be changed. Hopefully, we’d bring in an out-of-town station that needed more involvement of ourselves than just to sit back and watch.
Rev. Wendell Mettey
Revised 4/7/2014
