The Entertainment Revolution

What is the entertainment revolution? (A Brief History)
Entertainment has always existed. Humanity was created for various kinds of pleasure, and when pleasure was difficult to find, or when there was nothing to do, they created diversions to keep them occupied. Most of humanity in the ancient past didn’t need such diversions—life was exciting enough. There was a long day of trying to survive, and collapsing into sleep was enough for the day-to-day existence. For the common people there was storytelling, there was sex, there was wine (usually quite weak) and the occasional festival or wedding. Games were invented for children and adults, usually simple requiring little or no supplies—some string, a stick or just a friend. Board games, novels and music were almost exclusively reserved for the wealthy. What professional entertainment that was not patronized by the wealthy almost always included gambling and prostitution with it.

The entertainment revolution began at the turn of the twentieth century when three inventions revolutionized the world: the motion picture, the phonograph and the radio. Suddenly storytelling was taken to a whole new level, with visual signals more realistic and powerful than any book with pictures, and with sounds that made the drama all the more real. Quality and popular music was suddenly available to the populace—not just passed from town to town in a slow evolution by travelers, but available to everyone, every place where a radio could be heard. And over time even the poor could save up money to purchase copies of their favorite album—even if they had to go to a friend’s house to listen to lit.

By the same time the entertainment revolution was in full swing, advertising responded with a revolution of its own. The entertainment had to be paid for, and since the radio signals were free, businesses found that they could peddle their products between stories, or in the midst of them. The more entertaining the ad the more people would pay attention to it, and so they would have the most entertaining performers proclaim the benefits of their product. Entertainment and advertising were wedded, never again to be completely separated.

In the late 40’s, as disposable income became more prevalent after the war, television boomed, and soon it became commonplace for children to be raised on stories that they hear and see in their own living rooms. By the late 60’s movies had to become bigger and more edgy to draw people away from their televisions. Popular music in the 60’s also was pushing the edge of what could be called music, and diversifying greatly. In the 70’s movies made a break with conventional morality, glorifying sex and violence in a way never before seen, and yet remaining popular. Novels also became more popular during this time, mostly because of the way that publishers began to focus on longer versions of pulp fiction.

In the 80’s another revolution occurred—video games and personal computers became available to masses of people, especially to teens with disposable income. The computers were originally thought to be business machines, but when it was found that you could play games with more intense competition than with the family at home, then the computer became an entertainment icon. In the 90’s internet capability was opened up, which allowed role-playing games to be played by hundreds—even thousands— at the same time in vast virtual realities. Instead of just watching fights, shootings and flirtings, on television or movies, we can participate in them with no danger to our physical bodies.

In a mere hundred years we have become a culture of entertainment—where our entertainment choices display who we are more clearly than what we do, mostly because what we do relates more to our entertainment than does our work or our relationships. Entertainment has become so blended with our lives, that it is no longer a pastime—our entertainment of choice has become so complex and detailed that any aspect of it—from a music groups called the Beatles that only existed for nine years, to the six movies called Star Wars—could completely consume a person’s life, and it often does. The revolution has come so quickly, and has so much for us to see and experience, that we have only been able to evaluate it on a basic level—do I like this one or not, do I think that this one is immoral or not. We have very rarely been able to evaluate what the entertainment as a whole is doing to our lives and whether we want it to happen. Following is a brief critique of the entertainment revolution, from a Christian standpoint, in the hopes that we can better determine what we want in our lives.

The Entertainment revolution makes us feel as if our desires are met, but they are not
The ER began and is fueled by meeting people’s desires—pleasure, significance, peace. If what we see or hear does not meet our felt desires, it is exchanged for something else. However, it only has the semblance of meeting our desires. Just like someone who has eaten a magical meal, they can enjoy all the flavors and feelings, but in the end they feel hungry. Even so, the ER does not meet our real desires—and yet we still look to it, because its promise has not yet been fulfilled.

a. The entertainment revolution encourages us to spend our lives in pleasure
Pleasure in and of itself is not wrong. God created us to feel pleasure—it is, in fact, one of the major desires of humanity that God created is with. Those who do not experience pleasure in normal way are called clinically depressed, and they experience lack of energy and a generally negative viewpoint on life. Jesus encouraged his people to experience pleasure, and promised that the coming kingdom of God is one in which pleasure would be experienced.

It is necessary to rest and give us an opportunity to experience pleasure at times. But we also need to balance pleasure with other aspects of our lives. Entertainment teaches us that we deserve pleasure, and that everything in our lives should be conformed to the granting of pleasure. Commercials show us that practical tasks from putting on deoderent to mopping a floor should be a pleasure. And none of our food, we are taught, should be mundane. We should be able to take pleasure in everyone and everything—and if we do not have pleasure, it is not our fault but the fault of what we have. If we don’t have pleasure, then we should exchange the things around us with something new—a new car, a new home, a new toothpaste, a new spouse, a new job.

The fact of the matter is that we do not gain pleasure over time, if we look to the ER to give us pleasure. They can only give us pleasure by granting us new varieties of pleasure. And eventually, we feel we have seen everything, done everything and heard everything, and we haven’t even left our couch. The ER fundamentally leads to perpetual boredom.

God, on the other hand, teaches us contentment and endurance. We should have contentment, for the situation we are in was given to us by God for our own sakes. And we should endure through difficulties, for although they are not pleasant, they make us people who are able to stand up to adventures, to exciting travels. The person who does not endure is the one always wanting to say the safe thing, because they do not want to face difficulties. The one willing to endure through difficulties will eventually gain the greatest adventure in the world—the kingdom of God, where they will never be bored.

b. The Entertainment revolution gives a false sense of significance
The mediums of the ER often have us focus on a hero who goes through many adventures and learns important things about him or herself and the world surrounding. We see and hear things through the eyes of that hero, and we have the sense of learning through that one’s experience. The reality is, however, that we have learned nothing. The hero gained the medal, or the love or the justice that was sought after, but we, who identified with that one, have gained nothing. We leave our hero with a feeling of significance—but also of emptiness. Fundamentally, we wish we were like that hero, but we are not. We wish we could be brave and wise and compassionate and good-looking—but because we are not, we feel inadequate.

Jesus also is a hero in much the same way. We can read about him in the Gospels and we see that he does marvelous works for God, and says wise things, and is a moral example, and struggles through difficulties, even through death, and yet God allows him to come up on top. We look at him and we say, "I wish I could be like him…" But the difference between Jesus and the ER is that he really can make you like himself. He can help you to be really significant. Not just an actor on a screen, or a singer in a band—not just empty fame—but significant in reality. For those who follow Jesus, he promises to send the Holy Spirit. And those who have the Holy Spirit will do works just like Jesus—and even greater than Jesus. (John 16) Jesus isn’t just in the department of looking good, it is his task to make others like himself. (Matthew 10)

c. The Entertainment revolution gives a false feeling of rest
The ER promises to give you rest. After a long day at work, the television (or CD player or movie theatre) looks good. There is nothing to do, just turn it on and it will entertain you and give you rest. It will please you, it will make you cry, it will make the final hours of the day interesting.

After hours doing nothing but basking in the light of a screen, you should feel rested. But, often, you do not. You can finish a time being served by the ER, but you are not rested, you want more. So perhaps you will stay up later with the ER to gain more rest. But the longer you remain in the ER, the less rest you actually have.

The ER encourages us to be passive, but God has not built us to be rested just by being passive. So many people feel that the Bible teaches that the "day of rest" is a day of doing nothing. But Isaiah 58 teaches that the day of rest is a day of setting aside one’s own pleasure, and seeking the pleasure of God. Jesus used the day of rest to do activity for the poor and needy. Rest is not passivity, it is actively doing something different than pursuing your normal actions. But the ER can never teach that.

d. The Entertainment revolution is a substitute for real communication
If someone wants to get in touch with the world, they will typically turn on the radio, or the TV or read the newspaper. They want to connect with the real world outside their window, and so they find out what the president is doing or saying or what disaster happened in the last 24 hours or what scandal is going on. And in this way, a person feels like they have connected with society.

However, what is a person’s real society? Who makes up one’s community? Is it found in Washington D.C., or in the disaster on the other side of the world or the scandal in local politics? Rather, community found in one’s family, one’s neighbors, ones friends, ones co-workers—with the people that one actually sees and talks to. Perhaps community could be built over the internet, but even then, it is missing a vital component—non-verbal communication. Misunderstandings happen more often on the internet because we cannot see facial expressions or develop true trust for others ("Is she really a girl?").

Our need to connect with society cannot be accomplished through the ER. We can hear what the president says about the latest crisis, but he won’t give us advice about our garden. The folks on TV aren’t really interested in our lives.

And now, instead of spending time showing our concern or care for others—showing our love—we have shown that we are interested instead in the ER, not people. Jesus taught us that it is our responsibility to love our neighbor. But because we have spent so much time with the ER instead of our real, physical neighbor, we don’t know how to respond to his need. In fact, anyone who comes in contact with us is a challenge, a difficulty. Almost as if dealing with human beings—even those who live in our house—is like living with an alien. They don’t say the right things, they aren’t polite like they should be, they don’t use the right language.

But if we are to love people, as Jesus says, we are to deal with their quirks, and eccentricities. Even when they are not entertaining. Even when they are irritating. And we are to respond to them with gentleness and with patience. How can that be done? Well it takes the Holy Spirit. And a lot of practice… which the ER takes us away from.

Virtual Values of the Entertainment Revolution
The Entertainment Revolution (ER) has grown over a century. It is a revolution allowing everyone to have access to music, video and computer entertainment, anytime, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It began in the United States and Europe and has since expanded to every place on the globe. It is a form of an American Utopia—paradise through virtual reality. However, a virtual reality encourages one to live out virtual values.

As Neil Postman once observed, "The medium is the message." With every medium comes its own values that it communicates. Books carry with it messages of the print media, for example, the necessity of clear verbal communication. Art communicates messages of visual media—to be able to see what one cannot see in reality, for example. Even so, the Entertainment Revolution has its own values that it teaches, just because of the media it uses. Not all of the values are bad—visual observation, for example. But there are some values that the ER teaches that do not support Christian values and ideals of community love. Below are a few:

The Entertainment Revolution teaches impatience with real life
In the media of the ER, the greatest sin is boredom. Everything must be interesting, and if it is not interesting, then it is not valuable to the media of ER. To be valuable, something need not be good, nor does it need to be beautiful—but if it is boring, then it is worthless. And since the ER has been invading so many areas of life—education, job training, raising children and so many others as well—then it sets as the lowest common denominator the one value—it must be interesting. Mathematics is practical, but for ER it is worthless unless it is interesting. Philosophy is important, but for ER it cannot be discussed unless it is interesting.

Even so, we and our children are learning this ever important value. We aren’t interested in learning something that is important for us, unless it is interesting. Our lives may be many things, but it must be interesting. And if it is not interesting, that’s fine—we could always watch a movie. Vocarious interest will replace real interest, if necessary. But if we are bored with our job, bored with our spouse, bored with our children, bored with our life, then we need to find a way to make it more interesting. Maybe a new job, some pornography, some new hobbies or a new babysitter for some more freedom—maybe that will make life more interesting.

Another area we are learning from our ER is about speed. In ER, interest is increased and it is done immediately. It moves quickly from one interesting item to another, as if one was at a jewelers’ on a conveyer belt. The pace of images on television has sped up to such a degree that often we can’t keep up with all that we see. But there is so much of interest that it doesn’t matter if we miss something. But the pace is set high on all the media of ER—movies, radio, CD’s. And, of course, computers. If our computers are not fast enough then the answer is clear—we need a new computer. And if our internet service isn’t fast enough, then that needs to change as well. And for many, DSL is a necessity.

But what is the necessity, really? Speed. Things need to be faster. It isn’t just the ER anymore. We need to find something interesting and we need to find it now. Never mind that most worthwhile things require time, practice and patience. If it isn’t interesting now, then it isn’t worthwhile enough to us. We need to hurry and be interested.

And so this means that we have become a culture of impatience. We are frustrated if we have to wait a few minutes, if our phone has poor reception for a minute, if our children take too long to get ready, if the electrician takes a half hour when she said it would only be twenty minutes, if there is traffic on the freeway, if we are following a bus on the way home. We are impatient with life. And yet, in Scripture, slowness is a virtue. At least being slothful toward anger. And angry is the very thing we are in a hurry to be, it seems. We certainly flare up with irritation every time someone or something makes us wait. Especially if we are bored.

The Entertainment Revolution teaches Passivity
Computers are interactive, and they often encourage one to provide at least a minimal amount of input. DVDs are beginning to allow those who watch them to mold and change what they see. But the far majority of the ER media has a "silver plate" mentality. The extent of choice is "which station?" Once that choice is made, all the rest is given to one, as if one is the wealthy king, waiting for the servant to peel the grapes and to drop it into the mouth.
We begin to get used to servants, and though human ones are garish in our society (not to mention expensive), so we will be satisfied with electronic ones. Perhaps a microwave dinner does require a small amount of work, but it is a service as opposed to making oneself and one’s family a full meal.

Life is more and more feeling like "too much work". It is not that we are lazy—oh no. But we are mentally tired, and just not used to going out of our way and it is just easier to… well, perhaps we are a bit lazy. And we would really like to exercise and we know that we would feel better if we did, but it just seems so difficult… and so on and so on.

We are just becoming more used to being passive. And we don’t really see why we should work more. After all, we work at work, and so why should we do it at home? Of course, if that is our attitude, it is no wonder that obesity is becoming the number one preventable cause of death.

The Entertainment Revolution increases desire for acquisition
In the 80’s the Cosby Show was the number one rated sitcom in America. Many were impressed at how a black family could be shown as so "normal". Of course, for most of America, "trailer trash" shows like Rosanne or the Simpsons were better indicators of their living standard and the upper middle class Cosby Show just had folks drooling for the life that they wished were theirs. This is common in television and movies or any of the visual media of the ER. Show people wealth they don’t have and drop hints that communicate, "this is normal; this is how you ought to live; this is how most people live—why don’t you?"

If it is true in television shows and movies, it is certainly true in advertising. Advertising has almost perfected the art of causing covetousness. In a matter of weeks, a product that was unheard of and was totally unnecessary is now in hot demand and everyone wonders how they lived without it. And half of those products will be unnecessary again in another month.
How many Americans know the tenth commandment? How many would be surprised to find that greed is counted in the Bible as a sin of equal depth as sexual immorality? If we live in a culture of entertainment, we just as strongly live in a culture of covetousness and acquisition. And it will send us to hell just as quickly as homosexuality and drunkenness.

The Entertainment Revolution encourages moral nihilism
We all know that television, movies and radio have gotten morally worse over the years. It is a cliché—"I just can’t believe what they allow on television." Or the movies. Or the radio. Or the internet. Everyone agrees—it has certainly gotten worse. And most people, it seems, are appalled. If that is the case, then who are the ones who are tuning in? The ones who just want to see or hear just how bad it is?

Probably not. The ones who are listening or watching the "apalling" behavior or words probably have other cliches to quote—"It’s not that bad"; "It’s not like it’s real." "It’s only television." These are the modern dualists, the anti-gnostics who believe that as long as it is in the mind, but not the body, then it is all right. The mind and the body are completely separated, and never let it be said that what enters one’s mind would ever find its way out into words or action.
Well, that is what Jesus said. That what was in one’s mind would eventually work its way out. Perhaps, he said, the evil will come out in only a small way—a mere look, a quiet insult. But it will come out in action. And that action will be evil—perhaps not as evil as the action seen on the screen, but still evil.

It is a moral spiral that begins with the evil that we see or hear about in the ER. We hear the interested deny the reality of the entertainment. Then we hear that some form of evil "isn’t all that bad." And next we hear the protest, "But I only did this."

Our actions are based on thoughts. Our minds can bear evil, as long as we recognize it as pure evil. Evil acts are described in the Bible, yet clearly described as evil. It is when evil is used as a point of interest or entertainment that moral decay begins. The thought comes in, "I’d like to do something like that" and it develops into a temptation. Not to do what was on the screen—of course not that. But perhaps a few steps away from it. Not killing, but getting even. Not an adulterous affair, but lusting. Not a street fight, but a good blow in the stomach… Jesus says it is not the size of the action that matters, but the action itself that indicates the evil desire. And indication of the evil desire is what destroys us. It is only worse if we can excuse the action in some way, for then we have no problem to do it again.

We need to remember that morality begins in the mind. And what we place in our mind is what determines our thoughts. Our thoughts, especially what lingers, is the basis of our actions. And our actions determine who we are. Are we good people, or evil people? If we our good, our thoughts will be good and so display good actions. If we are evil, our thoughts will be evil and so display evil actions. If we desire to be good, then, why practice evil thoughts? For we are what we think…

The Entertainment Revolution is cultural streamlining
There is much talk about diversity today. It is an important word—cultural and racial diversity is significant in our society today, and the ER wants to play its part in the current vogue in political correctness. Of course, ER was involved in a certain amount of diversity before it was politically correct—glimses of the 60’s Star Trek and the 70’s Mod Squad show us that. Since then, the ER has taught us about some cultural aspects of American Indians, Hispanics, Chinese, Japanese and much, much more. Also other kinds of diversity—the blind, deaf, developmentally disabled, homosexual, Hindu and Muslim have all gotten their spotlight in the ER.

If only the world were so narrow. Although the ER has purposed to expand in diversity, it has strict limitations. Unless there is a special station, English is still a limitation. CBS wouldn’t be caught dead with an entire show in Spanish, even if it could be shown them that the ratings would be decent. And what about Australian aboriginees? Or Bangladeshi peasants? Some speech has been given about the Kurds in Iraq—why not give them some prime time?
Of course, it isn’t practical, nor is it cost effective. It is a difficulty inherent in the system. Diversity is fine, as long as it is limited to a narrow degree. Broad diversity is impossible. Limited diversity is difficult, but managable. And the main rule in the ER is: only rock the boat if it can be shown to be popular.

"What then shall we do?"
The Entertainment Revolution (ER) has become all-pervasive over the last century. It is hard not to make a comment about some aspect of the ER—television, movies, radio, video games or computers— in the course of a normal conversation with a friend. Not that we try hard not to, at least its something to talk about. And really, with all of the difficulties stated above included, is it really so bad to watch a movie every once in a while? To have a favorite TV show? To have the radio on as background noise? Not in and of itself. But there are cautions:

Jesus warns us that a life of pleasure keeps us away from God’s kingdom
Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Luke 6:22-25

The real question is—what should be consuming our lives? Before the entertainment revolution, people were offered a choice—should we choose work, or family or education or God or what? Now that choice is made for us before we are old enough to control ourselves—we will have entertainment. And that becomes the center of our existence. If we have work, we must have entertainment. If we have family, we must have entertainment. If we have God, we must have entertainment.

Jesus said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?" Mark 8:34-36

But Jesus does not call us to follow him in a context of entertainment. Rather, he calls us to follow him in a context of self-denial, of taking up the cross. To follow Jesus, we will have to give up lifestyles of entertainment to have lifestyles of self-sacrifice. Jesus even says that the comforts and pleasures and concerns of the world will be something that would cause us to fall away from the truth of his teaching. These are the some who have heard the word, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. Luke 8:14

But realize this, that in the last days …men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, …lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power—Avoid such men as these. II Timothy 3:1-2, 4-5 Have we become the very people the word of God has told us to avoid? Have we surrendered ourselves to pleasure, when we should have surrendered ourselves to God? Are we more interested in our entertainment than in our faith and devotion to God?

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all your provision will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)

The reality of Jesus, the reality of the kingdom of God is to not be distracted by entertainment, but to have our whole focus be on God and on his kingdom. This does not mean that pleasures will not be included in the kingdom of God—they certainly will! God wants us to have joy and pleasure. But if the life in Christ is characterized by self denial and love of others and taking up the cross, it means that a life focused on the pleasures and comforts of entertainment will not allow one to enter the kingdom of God.

We need to Constantly evaluate our media and the content of what we are ingesting
If a stranger on the street handed you a hamburger, and said, "Here, eat this" would you do so without some careful evaluation? Probably not—after all, you need to determine if it should be put in your body. Even so, strangers are handing you things every day, every hour and asking you to intellectually ingest it. At least if you are going to accept it in your mind, evaluate it as you are doing so. Constantly ask yourself—"What am I doing? Is there something more worthwhile I should be doing? What am I ingesting? What is the moral content of what I am ingesting? Since God is participating with me, what is he telling me about this?" If you watch television with your family, make it a habit to make snide comments of disbelief or disgust when something unrealistic is said or shown (Yes, this will begin as an irritating habit, but it will result in an evening of fun group participation!).

Also you need to evaluate how your habits of ingesting the ER effect your life. How does it effect your relationships (if you don’t have any relationships, perhaps it is time to adjust your ER time)? How does it effect your activity level? How does it effect your energy? In what do you find pleasure? How easily are you bored? Ask yourself as many questions as you can about your participation in the ER. And be brutally honest with yourself—don’t allow yourself to deny the elephant in your living room (the giant screen there might be a clue).

Live your life, don’t let it be lived for you
The only way to find life is to live it. The ER does not provide life—it provides diversion. It is a detour away from the path of life, and while the occasional detour may not be bad, no one wants to live for a detour. But many may ask, "if I don’t focus on the ER, what will I do?" Believe it or not, life holds many options other than participating in the ER.

What to do if there is nothing else to do:
Volunteer at a soup kitchen
Go to a church service
Talk to folks in your neighborhood
Visit folks in a nursing home—talk to them, offer to read something
Read a non-fiction book
Make a craft and give it to someone
Ask someone to tell you a story
Clean up after someone else
Read the Bible
Play a game with friends or family
Take a walk
Pray
Call a friend on the phone
Write a letter
Make a list of what you are grateful about
Knit or sew

The secrets to living life—first of all, participate, be active. Don’t just sit, do something yourself. Secondly, be active with other people. People are exciting and stimulating. Just because they can be irritating, don’t discount them. Thirdly, be active with people in love. Do an act of service or kindness for another. Last, be active with people in love for God. Don’t do it just for yourself. Don’t even just do it for others. Do it for God’s sake, in God’s way. That way, you will gain greater rewards than any TV game show could offer.

The only real substitute
There is a real life to be lived. It is strange, but it is an adventure. You never know where you will go or what you will do. You will never get bored. Yes, sometimes it is uncomfortable, but it is constantly worthwhile and you know that you are significant if you do it. Perhaps it is a radical notion for you. It is obeying God through Jesus.

Complete and total devotion to God involves following Jesus and doing what he says. You will give away a number of your possessions to the poor, and you will talk to people about things you never thought you’d say.

If you listen to the Holy Spirit and do whatever he says, then you never know what you will come up against. Perhaps you will gain rest and peace one day, and perhaps you will be speaking to a large crowd of people who don’t speak English, telling them about Jesus. Sound strange? Well, all I’m trying to say is that anything can happen. You just don’t know. And that’s part of the excitement.

And then there is serving God. Doing the activities that God wants you to do, for the sake of other people, that is the real life. There is true adventure there—for nothing is more interesting and potentially irritating than dealing with people, especially if they know you are there to help them.

And the most provocative of all is being persecuted. People will reject you and hate your for the sake of Jesus. If you haven’t been rejected straight to your face, you haven’t lived! There is nothing that will make you feel more alive. Because the one who is fully devoted to obedience is never bored.

The Christian writers before the Renaissance knew this. They would tell magnificent stories of these people who were sold out for God—and these stories were the popular novels for a thousand years! St Francis was the Superman of the 13th century—there were many versions of him, and there was always a new story about him, but each was fresh and exciting because he was a fool for Christ, a madman for God—who knew what he would do next for Jesus? Perhaps he would talk to a wolf, perhaps he would pray for forty days and nights, perhaps he would strip off all of his clothes, perhaps he would sing a song in front of a bishop—who knew? But this was interesting, this was real entertainment.

And those who were tired of just reading about Francis and the rest of the saints could decide to become one of them. After all, the stories were super, but any mortal could do the acts of Francis and the saints—they were only human, except for the ones who were purely legendary. But it was possible. And then one could live a life of adventure themselves. They wouldn’t have to live it through someone else. They wouldn’t have to just watch someone live. They wouldn’t just have to hear about someone’s experiences. They would have experiences themselves. And perhaps they could be the next one to tell their story.