Stranger

A nice story with a good message:
A while ago, my Dad met a
stranger who was new to our
small town. From the beginning,
Dad was fascinated with this
enchanting newcomer and soon
invited him to live with our family.
The stranger was quickly accepted
and was around from then on.
As I grew up, I never questioned
his place in my family. In my
young mind, he had a special
niche. My parents were
complementary instructors: Mom
taught me good from evil, and
Dad taught me to obey. But the
stranger…he was our storyteller.
He would keep us spellbound for
hours on end with adventures,
mysteries and comedies.
If I wanted to know anything
about politics, history or science,
he always knew the answers
about the past, understood the
present and even seemed able to
predict the future! He took my
family to the first major league.
ball game. He made me laugh,
and he made me cry. The.
stranger never stopped talking,
but Dad didn’t seem to mind.
Sometimes, Mom would get up
quietly while the rest of us were
shushing each other to listen to
what he had to say, and she
would go to the kitchen for peace
and quiet. (I wonder now if she
ever prayed for the stranger to
leave.)
Dad ruled our household with
certain moral convictions, but the
stranger never felt obligated to
honor them. Profanity, for
example, was not allowed in our
home… Not from us, our friends
or any visitors. Our longtime
visitor, however, got away with
four-letter words that burned my
ears and made my dad squirm
and my mother blush. My Dad
didn’t permit the use of alcohol.
But the stranger encouraged us
to try it on a regular basis. He
made cigarettes look cool, cigars
manly and pipes distinguished.
He talked freely (much too
freely!) about sex. His comments
were sometimes blatant,
sometimes suggestive, and
generally embarrassing.
I now know that my early
concepts about relationships were
influenced strongly by the
stranger. Time after time, he
opposed the values of my
parents, yet he was seldom
rebuked… And NEVER asked to
leave.
More than fifty years have passed
since the stranger moved in with
our family. He has blended right
in and is not nearly as fascinating
as he was at first. Still, if you
could walk into my parents’ den
today, you would still find him
sitting over in his corner, waiting
for someone to listen to him talk
and watch him draw his pictures.
Categorically, he destroyed all the
moral values, ethics, love, time for
each other and other good
qualities we had in our
family…..whilst adding some
unnoticeable quantity of positive
stuff also, which any way we
would have had even without
him……
His name?…. .. .
We just call him ‘TV.’