Somehow I have never heard this poem  before this week.  Perhaps because I have always found Roald Dahl I bit creepy.  This is a keeper though. 

"The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, never, NEVER let
Them near your television set-
In almost every house we've been,We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotized by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all of that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink-
but did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSES IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HE CANNOT THINK-HE ONLY SEES!
"All right!" you'll cry.  "All right!" you'll say,
"But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children?  Please explain!"
We'll answer this by asking you,
"What used the darling ones to do?
How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?"
Have you forgotten?  Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY…USED…TO…
   READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
to READ some more.  
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall. 
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Igoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll  now begin to feel the need
Of having something good to read.
And once they start-oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts.  They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

Katie wrote me a sweet note  after visiting here.  When I paid her blog a visit I was so convicted by what I read I had to share it.  Like, shout it from the rooftops is more like it.  

She begins with a simple premise – "I hope I get to Heaven."  Then goes on to explain how she has composed a plan for personal progress in that general direction based on Mother Teresa's Humility list.  (see below)  In a series of posts she shares her thoughts about how these points look in the context of marriage.  I think it would be a fruitful exercise to consider how they look in the context of friendship, in cyber communities, and any number of other applications as well. 

Her thoughts remind me of a wonderful old book by St Francis de Sales that another young mother shared with me a few years ago which set into motion a whole change of perspective for me.  I wish I had been blessed with these resources as a much younger woman.  I can't change that part, but I can tell you how richly blessed I have been to cross paths with women of such remarkable integrity and profound character who have challenged me to grow, to embrace change, to respond to pain in whole new ways, and to try harder. 

I thought the other night during prayer that we can accept our crosses and still not be getting it.  For we are asked not only to accept but to embrace. It is the folly of the cross that the instruments of our pain and suffering are the very ones which open heaven to us.  If this is so, we ought to have no other response to them than deep, grateful embrace. Sometimes, many times, it is hard to picture what that looks like in practice. Katie's list and reflections are a very  good start.  Don't miss them.  I would venture to say that the lion's share of our personal upsets and interpersonal conflicts in life comes from failure to heed one or another of these counsels. 

Mother Teresa’s Humility List

1. Speak as little as possible about yourself.
2. Keep busy with your own affairs and not those of others.
3. Avoid curiosity.
4. Do not interfere in the affairs of others.
5. Accept small irritations with good humor.
6. Do not dwell on the faults of others.
7. Accept censures even if unmerited.
8. Give in to the will of others.
9. Accept insults and injuries.
10. Accept contempt, being forgotten and disregarded.
11. Be courteous and delicate even when provoked by someone.
12. Do not seek to be admired and loved.
13. Do no protect yourself behind your own dignity.
14. Give in, in discussions, even when you are right.
15. Choose always the more difficult task.

"Let my soul flower in thy sight"

– the theme of Katie's blog