Control Life
Janie Mauzy, Adair County Family Services
Personally, I’ve never paid much attention to the television
remote, and, until recently, never considered its relationship to real life.
One evening, after a particularly difficult day, I found myself in
front of the television, remote in hand, absent-mindedly searching for a diversion. It
occurred to me how much less complicated life would be if we had the ability to "aim
and click" our problems away.
The words on the electronic gizmo took on new meaning. Authoritative
words: power, change channel,and volume control; helpful
words: reset, recall, and menu select; comforting words: sleep and
mute.
We can learn from the remote if we know which button to push. For
instance, there are overwhelming times when we could: benefit from a change of scenery
(change channel); use more energy to face the demands of the day (power); voice our
opinion loudly, even if it’s unpopular (volume); realize the importance of listening
(mute). A personal loss in our life requires us to start over (reset); we should never
foget to look back and enjoy fond memories (recall); and healthy food and adequate rest
are mainstays for survival (menu, sleep).
Knowing when we have reached our personal limit, and being wise enough
to seek help, is comparable to "aiming and clicking" at our problems. While we
don’t have the luxury of a remote, what we do have when we need support and guidance
are: friends, family, church, service agencies, school, support groups. Show me a remote
with those words and I’ll show you a remote that never gets misplaced!
