Of value?

Honestly I am often at odds with myself. I am a tech junkie. The main thing on my RSS feed is engadget. I have subscriptions to wired & popular mechanics/science. But, I am also wary of tech. Not for the 'robotic overlords' so often depicted in sci-fi movies, but for the impact it has on our individual & corporate lives. I look at myself & others & it seems that much of our lives is consumed with the current new tech & waiting on the next big thing. The talk is of the newest iPhone app, whats the next new game for the 360, people who spend hundreds of hours in a virtual landscape to gather the ultimate weapon/vehicle/armor. I work @ a community college & I often pass by one of our lobby/atrium's that is frequented by people often referred to as 'the pasty kids' or 'the basement dwellers' in reference to always being in front of the computer &/or living in their parents basement though they are in their 20's. Here's a large group of people who's life & breath is lived dedicated to an imaginary world lived on-line. Who spend hundreds & thousands of dollars to feed this addiction. What if instead of spending hours a day in an on-line game, they spent that time trying to affect the world around them? What if they got involved in politics? What if they studied philosophy? What if they became naturalists? What if, instead of intently researching the "history" of middle earth or any other fictional land, they pursued the history of the real world & were able to greatly affect us here & now. What if they learned of the history of the Church & were part of the guiding light for the next generation of believers?

Will we ever know? Will they decide to 'grow up' & leave the childish things of life behind? Now, I must admit, I am a gamer, but I game for fun. I own an XBOX 360, which I haven't played in about 2 weeks I think. I game to 'escape' but its just the escape of letting my mind drift from its daily bigger problems. I do not game to escape into a false reality, I do not get drawn into a fictional universe & feel as though its as important as this real one. I stay informed on the national political scene. I will occasionally read up on international news on-line. Part of me would be overjoyed if one day the computers died & we were just humans again. And instead of this virtual world between us, we had to meet face to face or wait on a some written word to get to us to share ideas. No more cell phones to interrupt us being alone or with others. No more computers to compel us to waste endless hours wondering what our on-line friends are wasting their hours doing on-line.

You and I, we could go to a park. We could walk around, pick leaves & study them, be amazed at their workings. We could watch kids @ the duck pond be amazed at these living, flying creatures. We could bump into friends, or make new ones, & spend hours talking on life, philosophy, religion, art... whatever comes up.

So, ultimately, is most of this virtual life of value? Or, is it just necessary because its where we are & where we are going? And trust me, I get the irony that I am using this tech of questionable value to share this idea.

"The LORD Challenges Job

⁶Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
⁷ "Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
⁸Will you even put me in the wrong?
Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?
⁹Have you an arm like God,
and can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰"Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity;
clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
¹¹Pour out the overflowings of your anger,
and look on everyone who is proud and abase him.
¹²Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low
and tread down the wicked where they stand.
¹³ Hide them all in the dust together;
bind their faces in the world below.
¹⁴Then will I also acknowledge to you
that your own right hand can save you."

Rick