Great Minds Think ...

Timothy Clark, in today’s newspaper, made some points in his column that tie into my previous two blogs. Among them:

If children don’t taste real success [or, in other words, accomplish something worthwhile], they may look elsewhere for fulfillment. They may get the idea that pleasurable pursuits are the equivalent of solid achievement. That is of course what our inane popular culture teaches, and children tend to believe what they are taught. The truth is much of the pleasure we seek is a waste of time. It leads to mediocrity, untapped potential and even destructive addiction.

If our children go back to school and have amassed nothing but hours on the gaming, Internet and television log, it will be a lost summer. We have a vested interest in our children, and we know the mass media does not.

Some of his recommendations?

Teach your children that the grand aim in life is not to consume, but to create and contribute. It’s a whole lot more fun.

Identify projects to complete: service, arts and crafts, music, cooking, gardening, learning a language, sports, home improvement.

To read more, go to http://desne.ws/KipoGV

My previous two blogs were each written without knowing what might catch my eye in the next day’s newspaper. I termed it serendipity yesterday when a new article tied into my previous theme. Three days in row, however, is more notable than mere serendipity. And it’s more notable than merely a case of  “great minds think alike.”  

“In the mouth of two or more witnesses shall everything be established.”

Yesterday’s newspaper URL for the article on the effect of electronic media on our brains and relationships is http://desne.ws/LzLkyc