I want a Nintendo Wii (Spectrum edition)
Well, I decided that I'd rewrite my last post and submit it to The Spectrum. If they decide to keep running articles from this guy who won't stop talking about Jesus the article should run either Tuesday or Friday. I now submit this for your reading pleasure. . .
"For those of you who have been living under a rock for the last few months and have no idea what the Nintendo Wii is, let me enlighten you. This next generation console from Nintendo will hit stores on November 19. It’s not the graphical powerhouse like the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3, but it is affordable. The system itself is only $250. The Wii’s main draw, however, is its revolutionary controller. It’s a motion sensitive remote. You aim it like a pointer at the screen and it recognizes where you’re pointing. I get positively giddy thinking about playing sword-fighting games where I’m actually using the controller like a sword. Yes, I am a nerd. I’ve accepted that. Now I feel I can move on. Last week one of my friends and I were geeking out about the Wii and arranging plans for camping out in front of Best Buy so we could get our hands on one at launch. At that point I realized how much I wanted to get one and also decided that I’m not going to.
You see, this world has enough people seeking to satisfy their wants. American culture pretty much demands we go out and spend, spend, spend until our heart’s content. Advertisements and the culture of consumerism have led us to hold onto this false belief that buying stuff is going to make us happy, content, and complete. So right here and right now I’m taking a stand and ending this cycle. I refuse to fall into this mindset that buying what I want will make me happy. So I took the money I planned to spend satisfying my want for a Nintendo Wii—about $500 estimated—and I gave it to those who truly need. I donated my Wii fund to an organization called Heifer International. They’re pretty cool people and I dig what they’re doing. With the donations they receive, they give away livestock like heifers, water buffalos, and llamas. Yeah, they give people free llamas. How awesome is that?
At first, it may not seem like much, but in America we’re pretty blind to the state of the rest of the world. More than half of the world’s population, over three billion people, lives on less than $2 a day. The result is desperate poverty worldwide. And we turn a blind eye to the 10 children that die every minute from not having enough food to eat. Meanwhile, we sit here complaining about how we’re just poor college students, when in reality we’re some of the richest people in the world. And from those who have been given much, much is expected in return. So let’s wake up, people. We are those who have been given much. Having thousands of dollars in loans and little money is no excuse not to give from what we do have. I’m reminded of the story in one of the Gospels where a poor woman comes to the temple and puts two small coins in the offering box while a rich man donates much more. Jesus said the old woman was more justified. She didn’t give more. She gave what she had. That’s us, folks. We may not have the most money in American society, but we’re expected to give from what we do have. And one of the easiest ways to find money to give back is by cutting out things we don’t need. We don’t need the latest, greatest cell phone. We don’t need the snazziest-looking car. We don’t need the Nintendo Wii. So let’s give to those who do need."
Well, I decided that I'd rewrite my last post and submit it to The Spectrum. If they decide to keep running articles from this guy who won't stop talking about Jesus the article should run either Tuesday or Friday. I now submit this for your reading pleasure. . .
"For those of you who have been living under a rock for the last few months and have no idea what the Nintendo Wii is, let me enlighten you. This next generation console from Nintendo will hit stores on November 19. It’s not the graphical powerhouse like the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3, but it is affordable. The system itself is only $250. The Wii’s main draw, however, is its revolutionary controller. It’s a motion sensitive remote. You aim it like a pointer at the screen and it recognizes where you’re pointing. I get positively giddy thinking about playing sword-fighting games where I’m actually using the controller like a sword. Yes, I am a nerd. I’ve accepted that. Now I feel I can move on. Last week one of my friends and I were geeking out about the Wii and arranging plans for camping out in front of Best Buy so we could get our hands on one at launch. At that point I realized how much I wanted to get one and also decided that I’m not going to.
You see, this world has enough people seeking to satisfy their wants. American culture pretty much demands we go out and spend, spend, spend until our heart’s content. Advertisements and the culture of consumerism have led us to hold onto this false belief that buying stuff is going to make us happy, content, and complete. So right here and right now I’m taking a stand and ending this cycle. I refuse to fall into this mindset that buying what I want will make me happy. So I took the money I planned to spend satisfying my want for a Nintendo Wii—about $500 estimated—and I gave it to those who truly need. I donated my Wii fund to an organization called Heifer International. They’re pretty cool people and I dig what they’re doing. With the donations they receive, they give away livestock like heifers, water buffalos, and llamas. Yeah, they give people free llamas. How awesome is that?
At first, it may not seem like much, but in America we’re pretty blind to the state of the rest of the world. More than half of the world’s population, over three billion people, lives on less than $2 a day. The result is desperate poverty worldwide. And we turn a blind eye to the 10 children that die every minute from not having enough food to eat. Meanwhile, we sit here complaining about how we’re just poor college students, when in reality we’re some of the richest people in the world. And from those who have been given much, much is expected in return. So let’s wake up, people. We are those who have been given much. Having thousands of dollars in loans and little money is no excuse not to give from what we do have. I’m reminded of the story in one of the Gospels where a poor woman comes to the temple and puts two small coins in the offering box while a rich man donates much more. Jesus said the old woman was more justified. She didn’t give more. She gave what she had. That’s us, folks. We may not have the most money in American society, but we’re expected to give from what we do have. And one of the easiest ways to find money to give back is by cutting out things we don’t need. We don’t need the latest, greatest cell phone. We don’t need the snazziest-looking car. We don’t need the Nintendo Wii. So let’s give to those who do need."
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home