THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 3, 1996 TAG: 9601030001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
Several weeks have passed since staff writer Kerry Dougherty prompted her readers to pull the plug on the ``boob tube'' for 30 days starting Jan. 1, 1996.
It's been exactly three weeks since I decided to cut off the TV and stop the daily paper.
Since the beginning of the fast, I have read five books and am ahead in my normal daily Bible reading. My business has improved, and the quality of life at the Ruffins has gotten better.
I don't miss the news much, and, frankly, I don't care what the Washington bunch is doing. It is wonderful to be cleansed of all the bad news in the world.
I no longer feel cluttered or controlled.
My hearing is improved; I listen to my wife and children more carefully. Because I'm listening better, I communicate better.
When I was a teenager growing up in West Ghent, my mother refused to let us own a television set. She thought our school grades would suffer, that we would read less and become trifling.
Today, TV seems to rob us intellectually, spiritually and physically. It steals productive time, and colors our opinions and thoughts.
Although television has the potential for good, it now serves to perpetuate our own fears and uncertainty.
Television use should be controlled by us, rather than be in control of us. Much of time, this is not the case.
My wife and I feel like we have just walked out of a pig pen and taken a long luxurious bath. At this point we feel clean, relaxed and restored.
TV fasting reorders one's priorities and returns individual space. It provides a much-needed safe harbor for the tired and weary, who may be beset by today's hustle and bustle.
TV fasting helps you view others with more compassion, and get in touch with your own best self.
Happy TV fasting.
ROBERT D. RUFFIN
Virginia Beach, Dec. 23, 1995 by CNB