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During the holidays, I spent more time at home, and consequently, my wife and I watched a little more television than we usually do. To my surprise, I found it difficult to find anything presented on screen that seemed to portray men in a good light. Women didn’t fare much better. It appeared that no character on television was stable enough to hold their emotions or passions in check. The women were presented as characters of ‘out of control’ emotion, and the men were presented as evil and immoral! I was left yearning for an example of someone I could relate to, but they never appeared on stage. The men on the screen were not the men and women I know and have associated with all my life. It’s not that my crowd of people are so perfect. They are just normal, average individuals like me. People who go to work, support their families, love their spouses and children, and who are not thrown off of their moral codes by every temptation that comes their way.

So why should that matter, some say? It is just entertainment! Well, if I were a young girl watching all of this, I would draw the conclusion that all men are evil and untrustworthy. I would also begin to believe that it is totally ok to let my emotions out in any circumstance. Curse, sware, yelling, screaming, and denigrating others seemed to be a common thread of the women presented. Mostly, I saw women characters who were unhappy but trying to become happy by following a pessimistic view of the world. And if I was a young man, I might begin to believe that you really are a slave to your passions. You cannot control them. You must be base! Loving couples were tough to find. Long gone is the day when a healthy relationship between a man and his wife is presented as a norm.

That has not been my experience at all. Most everyone I have been friends with throughout my lifetime has been nothing like those actors. Where do the writers get such pessimistic views on life? Perhaps they are projecting their lives on us. And I’m sorry if that is true. Maybe misery loves company. But I don’t want to join! Because I don’t see men and women in the same light as they do. The ‘Industry’ is about making money, and unfortunately, misery and tragedy seem to sell.

As parents, grandparents, or Godparents, let us be vigilant in providing examples of what life can indeed be like for our posterity. It need not be filled with unhappiness, greed, avarice, spite, and the complete breakdown of families. Most men are honorable, and most women are of high character. Most men are good fathers, and almost all women are loving mothers. Let’s not have our kids grow up to be cynics of life. Let us teach them that there is great goodness to be found in this world. It is everywhere! There are great people available to share their lives with. If we teach them to have Christlike attributes, the chances are they will be drawn to the light of others who have the same character. They don’t have to claw their way to happiness.

So as I turned off the television this past weekend, I looked at my wife and said, “That’s not the men and women I know.” And I was happy that what I had said was true.