Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Duck ponders...

What People Did Back When There Were no Video Games

Well, I could say that people watched T.V., but that would be cheating. Come on, pull up a lily pad, have a listen. True, they're not exactly sturdy, but you get used to the cold pond water at this time of year. Especially if you weigh over one kilo.

Before people had video games. Life must have sucked. I mean, if you think about it, when they didn't have video games, instead of killing aliens or monsters they'd kill each other. How barbaric. How did people live? Wait, I guess they didn't.... Okay, seriously though. We use T.V., Video Games, and reading for fun to fill up our spare time. So, what did people do to fill up their spare time back in the good ol' days? No, silly toad, besides kill each other.

Well, Video Games are past-times, right? And past-times are kind of like hobbies, right? I could say that playing the computer is one of my hobbies. Of course, hobby is much broader than that. People have lots of different hobbies, even today. Like artisans and painters, or hikers and surfers. Those are hobbies. Back then, they had hobbies like polo, jousting, fox hunts, hunts, the Olympics, etc.

However, back then, many people do not have time for hobbies, and even today many people don't have time for hobbies. They have to work the land, or carry water, or work hard hours for an employer. Yes, dragonfly, exactly like that man who comes to pick up the smoking orange things that humans leave on the ground. They had no chance at hobbies like philosophy, reading, writing, crafting, or mathematics. Yes, Ralph, I know you hate math, but Sir Issac Newton would disagree. Now stop poking that wasp's nest. Without these hobbies, the human race is unable to advance at it's maximum rate of growth.

On the other hand, today we have loads more time on our hands then we did hundreds of years ago, and more and more people are using it up with things like soap operas and other entertainment. Lucy, I know that you love the O.C., and I do too, but really, saying to your teacher that you didn't have time to study for your test because of it doesn't cut it in my book. And believe me, it's a good book.

What we need is a time like the Greeks had around 500 BC, a "golden age", where everyone was happy, so they came up with all sorts of cool stuff, like the Parthenon, and Polycleitus' sculptures, and philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle! In that span of less that one hundred years, Greece made great leaps and bounds forward in many areas. Yes, thank you for demonstrating, frog. And they did so not out of necessity, or greed, or need for anything, they did so because they were striving to be all that they could be.

And that, is a truly noble thing. So next time you sit down at your computer, yes Ms. Ladybug, that means you, instead of blasting away at aliens, try creating something, like a blog to express your ideas, or maybe write a piece of philosophy, or maybe jsut get off the computer and start scribbling in a sketchbook!

Or, you could just get back to nature, not like we need to, and take a hike.

See you next time!

World Peace
Jordan

1 comment:

~Julia said...

We don't have video games in out house because my mom forbid it when we were really little. I only go to play them at my friends houses and consequently I'm terrible at video games - I can't get my head around the graphics. The 3-D thing is confusing. My favourite game has to be any game where you have a paddle and hit the ball against the bricks...ok that’s a bit irrelevant...

Hobbies...my main hobby is probably knitting. Crazy, I know, but I love knitting things; scarves, blankets, bags, and so on...that particular hobby has been around for ages.

Farther back though the hobby was education - learning was the hobby.

As for that last comment - you obviously did both at once - wrote a piece of philosophy and wrote a blog. ^^