The Beauty of Netflix

The biggest thing that someone has in college is free time. This is also the biggest problem because we don’t know what to do with all of it. Something that my roommates and I have turned to is Netflix. Netflix is probably one of the greatest things ever invented, the amount of nostalgia that can be conjured up simply by scrolling through the titles is astounding. Our nights are extended way too easily with the simple suggestion of watching a movie. There is something about being in college that makes someone yearn for the past, maybe its a bit of homesickness, or even an overload of stress, but there are just some days where nothing sounds better than an old Disney style movie! From Atlantis to El Dorado, we’ve watched way too many. It is probably unhealthy how many times we’ve forsaken homework to watch an old movie, but their is something even more dangerous…..the t.v. series.

The other day I was walking into my room and as I was unlocking the door I hear my roommates yell “MATT! Get in here right now!!” They had just started watching the first episode of “The Walking Dead”. I had been eagerly awaiting the day where I would finally see the show, I had endlessly heard about how great it was, but I had never gotten around to watching it. I remember thinking to myself “Alright, here we go.” as I sat down and ended what would be my free time for the next couple of weeks. That was two weeks ago, I am now currently about to watch the season two finale. That’s a total of 13 and a half hours of t.v. watched and homework ignored, and I still have a whole other season to catch up on. I’m hooked, there is no hope for me. I am enthralled by the story line, the characters, and the fact that none of them are safe from death. {SPOILER ALERT- skip this next sentence if you haven’t seen the show and still want to watch it.} Just last episode they killed off Dale, who was arguably my favorite character. I raged. No one is off limits to the zombies, no survival tactic too severe for the group. The worst is just when you think a character is too important to the story-line: BOOM they’re dead.

The moral of the story is be careful what you watch, you never know what will keep you from remembering essays and other work that is due and force you to play catch up. So dear Netflix, I Hate You; But I Love You all the same.

The Road

“Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one.” This is what Screwtape says in his twelfth letter  to his nephew Wormwood, something that is all too real in our society today. Most people do not realize that the bad habits they are forming can be dangerous to themselves. Whether its smoking, drinking, or taking drugs, there are way too many bad things for people to get involved with. In a recent online article from CNN they state that marijuana is “safer” than alcohol. Sure smoking pot may not cause all of the same adverse effects as alcohol, but what they do not take into account is the fact that the use of marijuana can lead to the use of other, more harmful drugs. The gradual use of pot can lead to wanting a “better high” or a “bigger trip”, things that can endanger not only our self but also others. Things like doing drugs and being under the influence are not what God wants for us, and can (in harsh terms) take us on the road to Hell. There are many things that can lead us onto this dangerous road, so we need to be smart and careful in the choices we make in life.

Another way to look at this quote is from the perspective of the demons themselves, because for them the safest road for us to get to hell is gradual. It’s safe for the demons in the story to sit back and hide their identity from their patients by just doing little things to change them. If they were to make themselves known, or make a big show of something, they are in danger of being beaten. By that I mean it is sometimes in our darkest days where God’s light shines the brightest. The safest thing for the demons to do is attract us to new unknowingly hell-bound ideas gradually, because then it is harder for us to see the bad within them.  Also, the longer it takes for us to attach to an idea, the longer it takes to detach or leave that idea once it has solidified with in us. That is why for us as humans it is so hard to break from addictions because we have slowly grown into them. So be careful when you hear that any drugs are “safer” than others, because we have no idea where that road might take us.