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Quit it
Posted under conversion, current events, la tv by rahmaAlhamdulilah, I’ve never had addiction issues with alcohol. I made shahada and that was it - no more booze -except for the occasional slip up with some sneaky vanilla extract or wine used to cook food that I wasn’t aware of. I converted early in my college career, before I could legally drink. I went to school in Madison, regularly ranked the Number 1 Party School in the country for the amount of alcohol that flows freely among the student population, so temptation was everywhere. Alhamduililah, I stayed strong. By not drinking, I saved a ton of money and didn’t do anything stupid like falling off a balcony.
If I can withstand the temptation of alcohol, why can’t I do the same with television? I’ve had brief flirtations with quitting the television. I don’t sit down and watch it for 5 hours at a time on Saturday and Sunday anymore. But it’s still there, taunting me, calling me, and inevitably, I succumb.
Last night was the House season finale. Highlight for spoiler *Wilson is lying next to Amber in the last few hours of her life. She tells him she’d like to go to sleep now, he kisses her, and then he leans over and turns off the bypass machine* I’m snuggling up next to my husband, sniffling away and trying to hold back tears.
This morning, I was listening to my NPR podcasts as usual when this story came up. In it, a Chinese couple desperately clings to the hope that their son is alive, only to have those hopes shattered. You hear real grief, real anguish, real pain. The NPR reporter is struggling to control her emotions throughout the entire report.
Then it hit me BAM! There is so much suffering in this world, why on earth am I getting weepy over some fictional television characters? Why on earth would I want to spend the precious few minutes I have here on earth entertaining myself with the idiot box? Aren’t there better things to do with my time?
Granted, I probably won’t be able to give TV up cold turkey. But I’m going to keep this incident in mind. The next time I feel myself getting weepy over someone who doesn’t even exisit, I’ll check myself and go do something else inshaAllah.
Hi — I read your blog pretty regularly. I’m not Muslim, but I’m interested in religion and I like that you’re still growing in your faith; that really comes through in your writing.
Anyway, please don’t beat yourself up over TV watching… no one is perfect and life is way short; if you like TV, just watch it. Don’t watch it all day and all night, but feel free to enjoy a show.
It doesn’t make you a bad person or somehow irresponsible and it doesn’t mean you lack empathy for real world situations and problems. Liking a few TV shows isn’t such a huge vice…
Salam,
I hear you sister.
Here in Jordan we are, I believe, two seasons behind with HOUSE and the same goes for G.’s Anatomy. I cried like a baby at the Season 2 finale of G.’s Anatomy, and the one for HOUSE is coming up soon. These are those 45 minutes (we don’t have as many commercials) I allow myself, two or three times a week, to get emotionally attached to people who do not exist. It is ridiculous, yes, but I feel I both need and deserve it. If that makes me shallow, so be it.
Then there’s that voice that screams at me, “So how many new Surahs have you learned lately?”
It’s a battle, for sure.
Hi K, thanks for commenting. I often wonder if anyone is out there, but then I think, hmm, I read dozens of blogs a day and never comment, so I’m sure I have readers somewhere :)
The thing with television is that it is part of my spiritual journey. I’m considering joining a tariqa, a sufi order, and part of sufism is zuhd, detachment from the world. The Sheikh asks that his students detach from the world by giving up television. I think it will be a long while before I could do that completely, but I’ve found that on nights where I don’t turn on the TV, the husband and I have actual, real conversations, or that we go for walks, or read a book together. Once the tv is on, there goes the entire evening. blah.
wa alaikum assalam UmmFarouq -
Isn’t House wonderfully grumpy? I got the husband to start watching it last week and now he’s a fan too.
I too am a GA fan, and Ugly Betty, and Law & Order…it just goes on and on and on.
I think at this point, I’m going to try not to get attached to any new shows. Then when the shows I watch start to suck and I stop watching, or when they end, I’ll be gradually weaned off tv.
Hey — I hear what you’re saying about the communication breakdown due to TV watching. I agree — my husband I don’t watch that much TV but when we do, it is kind of like zombie time. Instead, we try to either go get coffee or go to the gym together, etc. That’s definitely better than being plopped in front of the tube.
In terms of blog readership — I don’t comment 99% of the times I read blogs (except on Cuteoverload.com, which often warrants an “AWW!”) and probably most people don’t comment either. I think there are website traffic tickers that can tell you how many people come to the site, which would give you a better idea who’s reading.
You can give it up insha’Allah. Set your mind on it, read a few good books on the topic (the 4 arguments for the elimination of television, the plug in drug, etc), and say bismillah. Lots of people have given up tv entirely, alhamdulillah, even if it was step by step.
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