Reality TV, potato chips and volunteerism

Ever hear one of these golden oldies?  "Charity begins at home."   "Mind your own business."  "Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you" (translation - treat people the way you would like them to treat you).  Have we completely lost sight of these age old principles to live by?

Increasingly, to me, the world today is just nonsensical.  Take "Mind Your Own Business."  That's usually damn good advice.  Today however, not only can we not mind our own business, but voyeurism is big booming business!  Strange, unreal, unnatural and just plain stupid Reality TV is skewing the development of our children, and wasting unconscionable amounts of the average American's time. What purpose does it serve?  How does it improve an individual, a community, our nation?  And have we become so shallow that it actually entertains?  Why are we entertained by pregnant teenager drama?  Bridezillas?  Why do we enjoy seeing people losing, failing, and being rejected over and over and over again?  

Think of what we could accomplish if we put as much energy into, say, volunteering in the community.  Volunteering makes you feel good.  Really, it does. And it's highly entertaining.  Millions of Americans devote millions of hours to volunteering each year.  Not as much time as they spend watching reality TV, I'm sure, but it's substantial.  And the good feeling probably lasts longer from the volunteering than the reality TV watching.  Kind of like when you're hungry and you go for the bag of potato chips, and boy, they sure taste good, but now you've mindlessly consumed hundreds of empty calories and then 30 minutes later you're hungry again....

I'm not saying that you have to cut out the potato chips completely (although that wouldn't be a bad idea, exactly).  Just choose some of the more healthy (or less horribly unhealthy) chips, maybe "Baked Lays" (not a chip eater, help me out here).  Have a few chips now and then, but go for the more filling, good-for-you and good-tasting foods more of the time.  And check out this link to making healthy foods taste better: 

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food/healthy/tasty-healthy-food-0307

And while you're at it, turn off that TV and find something that makes you feel really good at VolunteerMatch:  

http://www.volunteermatch.org/

It's commonsensical!