Posted by
on Sunday, June 24, 2007 2:06:12 PM
I leave this Friday for Ecuador. I am going as part of a Youth group for which I am a sponsor. As part of the requirement for this mission trip all of those participating vowed to fast from media for the entire month of June. It is tough. I struggled for a long time, especially while the Cavs were busy being the traditional Cleveland team in the NBA Finals. My biggest gripe though it that I feel uninformed. I stayed up to date with the news when I was watching TV and surfing the internet, but now I feel detached and unaware. For the first few weeks I thought that this was a major problem. Then I realized how insignificant a single person can truly be. The idea that my lack of information had no bearing on my immediate surroundings, let alone the world at large was sobering. I think sometimes we assume too much of ourselves. I do. It has been interesting to see the transformation in my thought process throughout this endeavor. I am still the same person, but I have been humbled. I am not advocating that a person should be uninformed, because I whole heartedly disagree with complacency. I am simply saying that its a personal issue. There is no public forum in which anyone cares what I know about stabbings, baseball, or election campaign trail rhetoric. My knowledge is, at least to this point, and probably always be expendable. That is a tough pill to swallow.
When I talk about this media fast, people seem to think that I am being sheep. That I am doing what I am told, but that is not it at all. I am finding out who I am. One of the struggles in my recent past has been defining myself. Who is Darrell? Who is the real Darrell? I want to know what Darrell is like without the acronyms in front of it....you know, ESPN Darrell, MTV Darrell, CNN Darrell, dare I say Red Darrell or Blue Darrell! The only way I can find out what the meat and potatoes of my very being is, is to revisit my life, and who I am. So that is why I am abstaining from media until Friday, at which point, I will be in Ecuador.
Finding out who I am has been fun. Try it, challenge yourself.