NOTE:  You might call this a Cross Current Classic in the sense that this article was originally published in 2002.  Please note there will be no Cross Current for the next two weeks while Susan and I head to Eastern Canada for a nephew's wedding and a tour around the region.  May the blessings of our gracious, almighty God be yours!

 

In Him,

Rick

 

Volume 33 No. 28                                                           

July 27, 2008

 

Con-temporary Culture

 

   Someone once described a fad as something that goes in one era and out the other!

 

   We've certainly seen many come and go.  Take Pac-Man, for instance.  One of the earliest commercial video games, it hit North America in the late 1980s and gobbled up a brand new market.  It's name came from "paku", Japanese for "eat", and Pac-Man was so popular TIME magazine named the hungry yellow icon its “Man” of the year in 1982.  That year, Americans pumped $6 billion worth of quarters into Pac-Man machines -- more than the total spent in movie theatres and Las Vegas casinos combined!

 

   Remember the Pet Rock?  When unemployed advertising executive Gary Dahl heard friends complaining about their pets, he hit upon an idea for the perfect “pet”.  Two weeks later, he completed The Pet Rock Training Manual, complete with instructions for house-training:  “Place it on some old newspapers.  The rock will know what the paper is for and will require no further instructions.”  Using stones that cost him a penny apiece, Dahl introduced the pet rock in August 1975 and was soon shipping 10,000 a day, at $3.95 each.  The craze died within a year, but not before putting a big grin on Dahl's face.

 

   The Happy Face logo was introduced in 1969 by New York button maker N.G. Slater.  In just two years, he sold 20 million -- enough for one in every ten Americans.  Presidential candidate George McGovern used the Happy Face as his campaign logo and it became “the peace symbol of the 70s” before fading from the scene.     

 
 

   As trivial as each of those fads was, they point to some fundamental characteristics of human beings.  First, we're in a constant search forthe new and novel, no matter how fleeting or superficial it might be. Boredom is the cardinal sin in our society and we go to incredible lengths to stave it off, latching on to the latest in fashion, music, movies and the other distractions that mask our underlying discontent. This impulse to replace anything and everything once it loses its first appeal is one of the big reasons why relationships are so disposable.   

 

   Second, we're enthralled with technology.  In a world where meaning and fulfilment are no longer found in once-stable institutions like marriage and the church, many look to technology to either enhance life or escape it.  Unlike what happens in the real world, games are fun and easy, you can control the level of difficulty, and you can win -- or walk away -- at no personal cost.

 

   That craving for control without responsibility was satirised by the Pet Rock but it's still seen today.  We want low-maintenance homes and relationships, “freedom” afforded by everything from lottery tickets to SUVs that never leave the road, and endless choice that lets us avoid anything hard, harsh or humdrum.

 

   It's no surprise the Happy Face struck a chord.  On the most basic level, it was a yearning for a contagious, uncomplicated gladness of spirit.  We just want to be happy.  And if we can't be happy, we'll at least be busy or amused enough not to have to think about it. So when life seems random or unfair, we smother our aversion with diversion, our dissatisfaction with distraction.  We're still going to die.

 

   “No matter how much we see, we're never satisfied,” says Ecclesiastes 1:8.  That relentless restlessness is what happens when we ignore or overlook the reality that God “has planted eternity in the human heart” (3:11).  We're spiritual beings by design, and when we fail to recognize our real nature and true identity, we condemn ourselves to a never-ending search for something to fill the void.

 

   So what can we tell about our culture from the current fixation on

everything from celebrity and cell phones? Maybe those things speak so powerfully to people because our comfortable, complacent, Christianity has so little to say about those seeds in their soul.  In a world desperate for something stable and meaningful, let's live our faith in a way that demonstrates God is no passing fad.  People need to see that He's absolute, not obsolete.

 

By Rick Gamble.  Published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To subscribe to this free weekly article, send a note to Rick at rgamble@bfree.on.ca