ESPN and Call of Duty Are Fun, But It’s Still Not Good to Be Alone

The following is an excerpt from a piece I just wrote for Boundless on manhood, marriage, and the benefits of maturity:

It’s the most inspiring 60 seconds in American culture today. Slow-motion combat, exploding rockets trailed by plumes of white. Men paying the ultimate price for a greater cause. Valor, vigor and victory. So what are we speaking of? A montage from military history? A call to join the armed forces in service to a nation in peril?

No. We are speaking of today’s greatest mini-artistic production: the trailer for that epic video game everyone’s talking about. It’s all fake. Yet it’s powerful and seeks to entice young men to buy, literally, into its alternate reality.

…There’s nothing wrong with having some fun pastimes and enjoying clean fun. We all need enjoyable endeavors whatever age we are. But here’s the thing: If our hobbies (whatever they are) occupy us for hours, they’re keeping us from serious things.

Read the whole thing. It’s not video games, football, or having fun that is the problem with modern men. It’s a lack of pursuit of big, serious, life-worthy things.