I recently had a conversation with a mom of three young children and we were discussing what her 3 and 5 year olds were watching on television. It seems that gone are the days of Sesame Street and the big thing with her three year old is Dora and Blues Clues. I remember sitting in a movie theatre many years ago with my mother watching the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since she had to learn as much as possible about the characters since they were the in characters and story at that time. Mom wanted to relate to the students she taught and thus had to keep up with the current trends of television shows and movies. To this day I still go and sit through movies and television shows so that I too can relate to my friends children.
So as my friend and I were reflecting back on the shows that we used to watch growing up, I recalled with laughter some of the shows I grew up with. I spent my day time hours at my grandparents house so I grew up watching French shows during the weekdays but on Saturdays, I refused to go out until I watched a show called Circle Square. I had to explain what this show was all about to her and how it shaped, without realizing it, my life, my relationship with others, and my relationship with God. The series was produced by Crossroads Christian Communications and focused on teaching lessons in moral values and Christian faith. Im still surprised that I remember some of the songs and can still sing them. One such song went like this:
Im going to stand up for what I believe in.
Im going to stand up for what is right.
Dont tell me everybodys doing it;
I dont want to follow the crowd.
Im going to stand up, stand tall for what I believe is right.
Years later those words would work themselves into my first experience in evangelism with my grade 4 class of over 50 students whereby I taught them a bunch of the songs from Circle Square, my passion to protect our wildlife by getting all my classmates in grade 6 on board to sponsor a cougar at the San Diego zoo, and in grade 7 and 8 I dared to speak out and educate my entire school on the topic of world peace by rallying peers to join me in a group called Students Against Global Extermination whose goal was to mobilize youth on nuclear issues.
The words of that song still echoes true in my heart to this day. I have taken a stand on various issues and have found my voice to speak out in support or in opposition. I am not afraid to speak out particularly when peoples lives are at stake. Its important that those of us who have a voice can give and use our voices for those who do not.
Now thats the power of television on a young mind!
Valerie
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 11:18-19)