Guest Blogger

The following post was submitted by Ben, a Hillsdale College student and summer intern at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, who we have come to know through our church. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

What made front page news in the Midland Daily News is telling concerning the attitude of our culture today. "Teen Hangout to open in Coleman" doesn't sound too concerning, but observe some of the quotations featured:

"The kids were always complaining, 'There's nothing to do.'" and

"It's probably the best thing to happen here in a long time. We haven't had an arcade here since I was like seven."

Maybe this will, like, totally exceed his expectations. I think these two featured quotations point to society's constant boredom and the idea that more entertainment is a good thing (maybe the best thing).

But we don't have to be bored (especially here in Midland...). I just toured the La-Z-Boy museum and saw miniature trinkets one of the founders made for his sister. He was 11 when he made a mini dresser out of cigar boxes for her to put her doll clothes in. It was absolutely amazing, beautifully done. As the founders grew and eventually founded the company, they continued to have an ethic of hard work, and so did their employees. The historian stressed over and over to me how hard these men worked. It is ironic that the company is named La-Z-Boy because people back in the 1920s just didn't laze around - they worked. If it wasn't working a job, they were doing something else productive around the house. Today we are hard pressed to find this attitude among our nation’s youth.

Let us remember that work is not a curse. Work existed before the fall and man was to glorify God through his work. For this reason, I think work will exist in heaven, perhaps at least in the form of gardening. So work is not a bad thing. It is good for man, who matures through working and enjoys God when doing so. It seems too often we can have this idea that work is a curse on us and one of the great miseries of life. Our kids seem to be growing up with the attitude that work is simply a miserable nuisance. The goal: less work, more play.

The article makes the point that now kids won't have to stare at their computer screen. Great! They'll be outside playing soccer right? No, now they will stare at an even larger arcade screen. We are bored with ourselves, and this is sad. God made us for a higher purpose than boredom. TVs are now being made that will switch channels at the command of a thumbs up or thumbs down; is picking up a remote too much work?

God did not invent boredom, man did. God created a whole world to be discovered and ruled over. It is sad to see men rejoicing at these new solutions to solve the boredom problem. So, if we care to discuss, here are some questions: Why are we bored? How can we, as a community and as families, prevent boredom and these outcomes?

(I do recommend you read the article - it notes a few positives about the business.)