Comments on: Bread and Circuses http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/bread-and-circuses Rants and musings about things political, philosophical, and religious. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:51:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Elizabeth http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/bread-and-circuses#comment-4667 Elizabeth Wed, 17 Jan 2007 07:46:40 +0000 http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/bread-and-circuses#comment-4667 The International Herald Tribune also ran a <a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/14/news/letter.php" rel="nofollow">story</a> on American's proclaimed yet unproven interest in politics. When are we going to wake up and start taking action? (Not that I am currently taking much action; this question is for me, too.) The International Herald Tribune also ran a story on American’s proclaimed yet unproven interest in politics. When are we going to wake up and start taking action? (Not that I am currently taking much action; this question is for me, too.)

]]> By: Michelle http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/bread-and-circuses#comment-4420 Michelle Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:17:19 +0000 http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/bread-and-circuses#comment-4420 Connor, sobering post. We live in a world where priorities are hard to keep because so much is clamoring for our attention, most of which has little to no eternal value. What's the scriptural phrase? <em><a href="http://scriptures.lds.org/en/alma/34/33#33" rel="nofollow">Improve our time</a>?</em> Connor, sobering post. We live in a world where priorities are hard to keep because so much is clamoring for our attention, most of which has little to no eternal value. What’s the scriptural phrase? Improve our time?

]]> By: Naiah Earhart http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/bread-and-circuses#comment-4417 Naiah Earhart Thu, 11 Jan 2007 16:43:53 +0000 http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/bread-and-circuses#comment-4417 Whoa. Those Neilsen statistics are just disturbing. We, as a family, 'kicked' tv almost three years ago. I can't begin to imagine where we'd find the time to watch hours and hours of tv!!! Our day is full as it is! It seems so impossible to do, but we just kind of found ourselves in a situation where we went without it for a while and then never did go back. Our tv, which had sat for over a year, unplugged and facing the living room wall, was finally donated to our kids' gymnastics gym. Whether you wean slowly, go cold turkey, or even just religiously abide by a timer and turn it off when you're done, I can't say enough how great it is to get all the noise and emotional static of tv out of your life!!! As for the rest, I've been thinking about this same bread and circuses idea, in a slightly different context---sense of entitlement. I'm beginning to notice a pattern to many social dysfunctions; almost all of them begin with a sense of entitlement, be they in society at large or a simple private problem between spouses. The sense of entitlement to leisure time has more than overblown itself in our lives. It's as if anything we have to/ought to/should do only has to happen between the hours of 9 and 5, leaving every evening and weekend to be our "much deserved" time off...I'll spare you my soap box schpiel here, but I'll just say that we need to ditch that sense of entitlement and replace it with a healthier acknowledgement of needing to replenish oneself, as <em>needed</em>, as opposed to whenever one wants. Our own sense of entitlement is making us lazy--leaving us without the benefits of our own efforts. Whoa. Those Neilsen statistics are just disturbing. We, as a family, ‘kicked’ tv almost three years ago. I can’t begin to imagine where we’d find the time to watch hours and hours of tv!!! Our day is full as it is! It seems so impossible to do, but we just kind of found ourselves in a situation where we went without it for a while and then never did go back. Our tv, which had sat for over a year, unplugged and facing the living room wall, was finally donated to our kids’ gymnastics gym. Whether you wean slowly, go cold turkey, or even just religiously abide by a timer and turn it off when you’re done, I can’t say enough how great it is to get all the noise and emotional static of tv out of your life!!!

As for the rest, I’ve been thinking about this same bread and circuses idea, in a slightly different context—sense of entitlement. I’m beginning to notice a pattern to many social dysfunctions; almost all of them begin with a sense of entitlement, be they in society at large or a simple private problem between spouses.

The sense of entitlement to leisure time has more than overblown itself in our lives. It’s as if anything we have to/ought to/should do only has to happen between the hours of 9 and 5, leaving every evening and weekend to be our “much deserved” time off…I’ll spare you my soap box schpiel here, but I’ll just say that we need to ditch that sense of entitlement and replace it with a healthier acknowledgement of needing to replenish oneself, as needed, as opposed to whenever one wants.

Our own sense of entitlement is making us lazy–leaving us without the benefits of our own efforts.

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