I have a roommate with a gaming problem. He spends most of his time playing World of Warcraft, Halo, and Call of Duty online. Most of his life is wrapped up in those games. When he isn't working, he is entranced by his games.
He said to me last night "I wish that all the achievments from my games were worth things in the real world." Please stop and ponder the significance of that statement.
Gaming = investing time and energy into something where the rewards are imaginary and the achievments are worthless. It is like working hard all month for your boss to hand you an envelope with your pay. When he does hand you that envelope he says "You've worked real hard this month. You've earned this." You excitedly open your envelope only to realize that it is stuffed full of monopoly money.
Life = Investing everything you've got into things that really matter and really count. Education is something that matters. Working hard matters. Forming and raising families is something that matters. Eternal Life matters.
Life is better than that game if you are daring enough to give it your very best. So, if my roommate were to say that to me again, I would tell him that life has real achievments that he is equally capable of reaching.
While the context is different, your gaming analogy reminded me of a scripture. Check it. It talks about how certain actions "...shall be as a dream of a night vision; yea, it shall be unto them, even as unto a hungry man which dreameth, and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his soul is empty; or like unto a thirsty man which dreameth, and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite..."
ReplyDeleteAlso, Elder Bednar gave a great CES fireside about things as they really are.
My take: I want to "waste and wear out my life" doing good rather than waste my time doing nothing of substance. I could share a mission story about this, but I feel I've already written too much with tons of churchy references and allusions.
Ooh. Deep.
ReplyDeleteThis a wonderful post, and it is a topic that is not often broached. There was an appropriate article in the August Ensign entitled "Just a Game?" Look it up. and Allison is right too. Thank you for sharing. What you have said could make the difference in someones life, including your roommate and his family, both present and future.
ReplyDeleteI disagree (politely)with Terry and Emalee because it seems that it has come up repeatedly the past six months. At least with CES firesides and articles in the Ensign targeted at college students. Regardless, I think it isn't listened to quite enough by those who have a problem (they seem to be ignorant of Bednar's CES fireside about the Body and Virtuality from my conversations).
ReplyDeleteAlso, remember how we thought that Bednar's fireside was broadcasting from the Marriott and then it wasn't? That was a fun trek.
Different roomates, same problems. I agree way more that you will ever know.
ReplyDeleteMy comments were more specific to my family (Louis' and mine)
ReplyDeleteLove this post. Lots of my friends husbands/kids have issues with this. I am going to have the boys read it.
ReplyDelete