Finding The Passion Again

Doug called a team meeting today, just a Q&A type session, to see if anyone wanted to throw some ideas around, or had any qualms that needed quelching. Somehow I managed to find myself assigned fully the task of music cue sheets once more, as well as a look(?) regarding my movie question. Hm...

Anyway, his second goal was to get people thinking about their craft, and the passion that backed it. A former staffer had apparently been doing some sort of 10 day challenge, and he wanted us to get involved in a similar challenge, CCM style. Basically, every day for 10 days, you come up with a new piece of art, with a specific subject of the day. I'm not sure how this is going to work, but I'm going to try it. He wants us to reignite the passion that pushes us forward, and gives us ambition and reason to flex our creative muscles, because doing that is what makes someone great. The passion...the ambition....

So what IS my passion? Why do I put in these long, tedious hours slaving away at the mill, labeling and relabeling dozens of tapes, logging hours of footage, and refining and growing my skills in other areas? The allure of the business, as unglamorous as it truly is, calls to me. The unique ability to be able to create from nothing whole new worlds, characters, circumstances, romances, epics, all of it. The energy involved in this endeavor is contagious. And then there are the people. Millions of people all around the world plop themselves down in front of their televisions and watch movies, television shows, and commercials till their brains rot. My sister just so happens to be one of them.

I see characters like Hannah Montana, or Sonny with a Chance, or any one of those teeny bopper shows, and I shudder. Thy are so obnoxious and rude and sarcastic and disobedient to their parents. And then there are the shows like "Secret Life of the American Teenager"... one stupid and idiotic decision after another. I mean, how many people can a girl sleep with before she gets knocked up or worse? How "mature" can a teenager really be with a baby? I know my own background speaks of a similar story, but really, broadcasting that on live air is like pumping mind numbing poison into the air all around us. I don't want my sister seeing all of that.

I want to bring God back to television. Like Doug said, when they came up with the megaphone, they were thrilled that people could hear the gospel all the way to the back of the tent. When the microphone was invented, hallelujah! A whole stadium full of people could be reached! And the radio... we could go anywhere with the gospel then! But when the television came out, it was condemned, called the "Satan box", and it's still being rejected by Christians today. Now, I understand if you feel there are better things you could be doing with your time, but rejecting a thing for the sake of it is no good excuse for non-action. What better tool than the one that spreads so prevelantly the lifestyle that is the exact opposite of the one we seek? It's like injecting the cure directly into the virus. Eats away at it from the inside out, until there's nothing left of it, piece by piece it disappears.

That's my passion, where my heart is. To bring God to the world, and even for those who aren't religious, to give them a better option of television. To show other little girls like Abbie that there's a way of living that doesn't alienate your parents and make you uber rebellious simply because you saw it on television. No one likes a brat, and certainly people who make horrible life decisions aren't as popular and living as well a life as they make out on the boob tube.

So every tape labeled. Every minute of footage logged and transcribed. Every back ache, head ache, bruise, sleepless night, missing items, reprimand, and blown tired. Every insult from those who don't understand. Every boycott and censorship. Every rejected application. All of it. It's all worth it in the end. It's all worth the effort, because at the end of the day, whether i see it or not, it's chipping away at a culture that has become increasingly numb, "young America raped on the sidewalk", and finally someone is paying attention and doing something about it.

~Char