Ginny is wonderfully talented musically, and what makes these gifts that much more amazing is due to her blindness. I remember distinctly her asking me to describe the dinosaurs in the film. That was likely the most difficult question I've ever been asked.
But what makes Ginny and other blind individuals unique is how sheltered they are from novelty and its consistent pull relative to novelty's bias towards the visual. For this is where novelty tends to root itself, and of course, as we all know as men, our eyes are the easiest means for us to be deceived, hooked, taken advantage of.
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I've often wondered if individuals are committing less of a sin if they're lusting after Internet porn on a small screen (tablet / smartphone) versus a large computer monitor. Obviously, there's the super convenience, if not altogether implied magic of being able to almost instantaneously view porn on these handheld computers, and this drives their appeal to the masses.
A man I once had the privilege of serving as a Silas admitted to me that he'd purchased one of these tablets out of the desire to fall in line with his peers. From there, his Internet porn use escalated due to the convenience and magicalness of the tablet itself. He'd typically take the device to the bathroom where he could easily masturbate at the lavoratory. Essentially, it was serving as an exponential upgrade to the hard copy porn magazines of yesteryear.
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Mainstream films, just like automobiles, are expected to historically wow consumers year after year. Within films, this is accomplished via special effects, and with automobiles, it's through the expected bells & whistles, interior finishes, performance figures, propulsion systems, etc. If these two examples aren't successful in keeping pace with consumers' novelty expectations, the film's / automobile's creators will be scorned relative to making something that contains no novelty, but is instead, a "step back" or "antiquated-feeling" effort towards the industry itself. Therefore, novelty is and likely will always be super high priority for these industries.
To take it a step further, we are bombarded with both professional critics as well as opportunities (for us) to critique just as the pros do 24 / 7 / 365. This no doubt fuels the rat race of novelty, and it permeates everything within the western world / our western culture. It is a very weird obsession that refuses to take into account its (at times) own irrelevancy.
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Why is this important to understand about our world?
Firstly, we certainly want the best of whatever it is we're considering to consume whether we're choosing entertainment or depreciating assets, and there's no doubt this is in line with logic. All of us Americans prefer the best because we feel obligated to how products have been marketed to us as such. And on the opposing side of that truth, we westerners deed ourselves as well as our families as deserving enough to justify this idealized pursuit.
But mostly, the why can be answered as follows: Many of us are wired like immature children who cannot get enough of that wow factor hit after hit after hit. Yet, this is the part that no one wants to admit to because being wowed is also a helluva lotta fun to "kids of all ages" due to how distracting it can be.
The apostle Paul wrote about childishness within Scripture and the dangers of not maturing out of that mindset into adulthood. I would argue, here in the western world, maturing out of a childish mindset is not an easy thing to do, but especially so from the standpoint of how elevated the wow factor truly is within our society / culture as a whole.
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The vehicle that was Howard Wilson Chrysler Plymouth's bread and butter during the summer of 1991 was the Plymouth Voyager. I know this because I sold many of them whilst working there during those 8 weeks. The '91 was the second generation of this esteemed minivan, and as such, it served as an almost perfect maturation forward relative to the original vehicle. Therefore, selling it to retail consumers was almost impossible to screw up.
The sole proprietor of the dealership would masterfully take former (first generation) purchasers through the '91 model , expertly pointing out all of the novel generational upgrades that had been made. He was incredibly adept at this. Watching him gave the impression that he'd designed the second generation Voyager himself with all of its novel touches / details. I used to stand in awe as customers would literally be mesmerized at both his approach as well as the seemingly perfect upgrades this van presented from the first.
There are too many Jurassic Park movies to count. Too many dinosaurs. Too many islands. Too many children trying to outrun prehistoric beasts. But, there is a distinction between each, and that distinction is novelty. It's a masterful exercise in selling consumers the same idea rearranged or upgraded for another go round.
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Novelty builds on the past. Having no understanding of the past renders novelty partially impotent. Also, having an understanding of the past but with no expectation / anticipation towards the future (that's in relation to the past) also renders novelty somewhat impotent. And, I believe, this is an important point due to how it can serve as a means for us as men to decouple ourselves from the puppeteer behind our obsession with novelty.
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In closing, thankfully, most of us see just fine, therefore we're blessed to rely primarily on our eyes to guide us along.
I'll wrap this up with a few questions. Are you a fan? Are you within a fanbase? Is that fanbase for an entertainer, corporate entity (such as a car manufacturer), or maybe even a preacher?
I would encourage you to ask yourself why exactly. And if you determine that the pursuit of novelty has any part in that admiration, be wary of what could be a sizable part of your boyhood that should have never been allowed to enter (from your childhood past) into your adult self.
The Bible speaks about seeing / perceiving things in and through our faith alone. It's a way of life that Ms. Ginny Owens knows all too well, and one I would argue we too should learn to embrace as Christian men. By doing so, we relinquish the demands of the wow factor to our past immature selves. This enables us to move forward to varying degrees in an effort to become more and more immune to one of the greatest trappings / obsessions of the western world.
From there, how we spend our time, talents, thought life, and $$$ will definitely be impacted to better align with our highest priorities as Christian men, rendering the trappings of this world as less and less of a draw. And this is no doubt a good move as we're called to focus our attention elsewhere, being in the world but not of it.
Remember, our God nor the gospel itself will never be new and improved. It doesn't need to be. It is the proper cure.
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