Learning to Surf
We have just wrapped up our time back in the states for deputation, and are finally back in Cambodia. But as we were coming back I was thinking about what we learned in the USA this past year, and in particular how we all learned to surf.We were fortunate that another missions agency owns a few houses near Atlantic City, NJ, about 2 blocks from the beach. For the last two deputation years we have rented one of those houses to live in. So this past summer, for his birthday, Dmetri, who is now 11, wanted to take surfing lessons. That sounded pretty good, so we also came up with money for Alex to take them as well, and the boys ended up spending an afternoon learning to surf! It was really pretty cool! Now, I freely admit, on the east coast we don’t have the big huge surfing waves that you see in all the movies and stuff. Typically, on a good surfing day, the waves are about 4 to 5 feet tall. But that’s perfect for learning on. They loved it!
Lisa and I also learned to surf, but not the same kind of surfing. I’m talking about channel surfing on the TV. Actually Lisa was already pretty good at it, but I was a reluctant participant.
Now don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying Lisa is a coach potato or anything like that, it’s just that her natural tendency is that when there is a commercial in a show she is watching, she will start channel surfing. This drives me nuts! I always feel like the show will come back on while we are on a different channel and we will miss some crucial piece of information, without which the plot of the show will be incomprehensible, so I prefer to suffer through the commercials and just stay on the channel. But this year I reluctantly became a surfer as well.
The problem was what was on the commercials. We would find some good, in-offensive show to watch (which isn’t easy these days), something decent that we could watch with our kids and all, but the commercials on during the program would be completely inappropriate for kids! So off we would go channel surfing. Even channels that advertised themselves as “family” channels weren’t safe.
In the end, it is just another example of where things are going in society. This is a problem world-wide, including in Cambodia. That is a big part of why we are trying to be salt and light in the media community here in Cambodia. We want there to be a positive message of hope available to all the people of Cambodia.
posted by Troy In Cambodia @ 11:46 AM
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