I dream of 'Growing Pains'

Reality television is making me hate my TV. And this is not good for a guy like me. My TV is a lot like one of my good friends. It presents information to me, and then it has me apply my knowledge to the real world.\nThis used to work well when television shows actually had something more to say than just, "Look at me! I'm on TV!" There were lessons, there were morals and there were goofy sidekicks named Boner.\nAnd all of these things would pass through the tube and resolve themselves in about 30 minutes.\nMy own sense of morals and ideals was shaped a bit from the lessons of many sitcom families. I'm not saying I learned everything from television, but it has had an effect on my behavior.\nThis is why I am afraid of all the reality TV that has sprung up in the last few years. Television has an effect on people. Some would argue that it doesn't, but it is too prominent in our society not to have an impact on people's actions and habits.\nIf you find that hard to believe, then how come I yell, "What is" before I answer any question on a TV game show? And how come I always say, "Help control the pet population. Have your and spayed or neutered" at the end of every "Price is Right?"\nTelevision is a part of my life, but reality TV is starting to make me hate that part of myself.\nAnd the show I blame for all of the programs like "Survivor" and the show with that darn island I won't utter the name of is "The Real World."\nYou know this show. It's the place where people stop being polite and start getting obnoxious. This program is full of so much overreacting and intolerance, it makes me wonder who's casting the show. It almost seems the casts are put together because the producers want the cast members to tear each others' heads off.\nI know what you're thinking, and you're right; the people on the show are cast because they are supposed to have problems with each other. It makes the show dramatic.\nBut this is not real drama.\nReal drama is not the end result of putting people in extreme circumstances, and I am sick of watching the failed attempts on my TV. I know you're probably telling me just to shut off my TV right now, but it's really impossible for any well-adjusted human being to do that. It would be like not letting the rest of the world influence anything you decided to do. And the last time that happened, there was goose-stepping and World War II.\nAll I'm trying to say is that my life already has enough reality for me to handle. I'm only 22 years old, and I have been through so much already. I'm sure if you examine your own life, you will realize that you have been through a lot, too.\nI've experienced what it's like to be the new kid at school five times in my life. I had to wait, along with everyone else in my family, while my cousin searched for a kidney that matched the tissue in his body. And I've had to smile and nod at my great grandmother every time I see that she no longer recognizes my face.\nThis is only a glimpse into the drama and reality that has filled my life. And seeing programs on TV that networks call "real life" only seems to trivialize the situations I have to deal with on a daily basis.\nDealing with the world is a tough proposition. It is something we will never stop facing for the rest of our lives.\nIt's like the bull that keeps charging, the door that won't close and the water that won't stop dripping. It is constant, and it is never-ending.\nAnd the sooner we realize this, the sooner we'll see that reality should never have commercial breaks.