Nov 30, 2011
One cannot travel by public transportation without noticing that most adults and children are engrossed in their electronic devices, which have surely made life safer, and more efficient. With them, life is pleasurable, even satisfying. Nevertheless, their drawbacks have already been noted by parents and educators.
If a child or young adult does not read regularly and often, electronic devices can co-opt language skills and stifle the imagination. Parents are concluding that their young children should develop and mature with the experience of holding a hard copy of a book in their hands. Parents want their children to use their senses to see and touch the pages and pictures, learn how to turn pages properly, and respond to the story by speaking and writing in full sentences as modeled by the book itself. These children are more likely to develop their innate sense of wonder and imagination, two of God’s gift to humankind. A hand-held device cannot convey the wonder of a book. Similarly, a growing handful of successful computer experts are determining that electronics will be off-limits to their own youngsters. Educators in colleges and universities have decried the poor language skills of students who spend inordinate amounts of time with emailing, texting, and surfing the web instead of reading and reflecting, of thinking independently, and communicating with others, in short, perfecting their language skills and deepening their spirit. Those addicted to electronics often have little time for the essentials that equip young adults to live productive and meaningful lives, and for making or doing beautiful things. Today, the number of children and young adults who speak and write well, and who love the literary and refining arts grows fewer and fewer. All of which brings us to Advent.
Advent Beauty
Of all the liturgical seasons in the Church, Advent luxuriates in beautiful imagery, replete with the rich imagination of the prophets, especially that of Isaiah. In part two of the Book of Isaiah, this “the fifth evangelist,” imagines and even predicts the advent of the Messiah in soaring poetry, captured so beautifully in George Friedrich Händel’s oratorio, “Messiah.” Isaiah expresses the profound longings of the heart which erupt within the spirit regardless of age, but especially during this Advent-Christmas season. Sometimes the heart wants something but doesn’t know what it wants; it can’t put its finger on it. Fingering electronic devices does not satisfy the heart even though they bring the world closer by connecting us to persons, places, and events all over the world.