Monday, July 28, 2008

My take on reality...

And once again, I refer to reality television, not my life, which is pretty boring and the same thing just about every day: emails, write, class, write, teach.

Well, reality TV can also be pretty boring, especially in the summertime. Wipeout anyone? Sheesh. What drivel.

I think HH and I are about the only people in the world who like Wife Swap for the lessons people learn. We hate to see people fight, hate seeing them ignore the new rules instituted for all of a week, hate seeing children emulate their parents' poor behavior. We much prefer to watch people become enlightened beings. We love seeing a husband suddenly realize he takes his wife for granted or a wife standing up for herself. We adore seeing people change! And if they can do it without yelling or storming out of the house, so much the better.

I understand conflict makes for good drama but when you're watching real people, I don't want to see conflict that celebrates bad manners and that encourages people to pick fights or be rude. There is so much rude behavior in the world; can't we have a respite from it for a few hours a night? Does everything have to be about competition and greed and getting one over on someone you don't even know?

It's not that I expect or want everyone to be nice to each other - and if you read my books, you know I can write some pretty wicked characters - I'd just like people to respect one another.