Unseen Whales

The children were part of a group visiting Antarctica. A writer and marine biologist were on board the boat with them. Suddenly, someone cried out, "Look! There must be a 30 whales out there!" The biologist, writer and others ran to see the phenomenon, one that none had ever witnessed before.

Except for the boys with the gameboys. They were too engrossed to stop and look out the window.

How sad that many children are so hooked into the artificial world that they've forgotten the thrill of natural wonder. Unlike previous generations, they're not roaming the neighborhood in search of adventure or using their imagination to soar to unseen places and live fantasy lives. Peter Pan has become an anachronism for much of today's youth.

Some children, who for various reasons are psychologically vulnerable, become totally dependent on external rather than internal sources of fulfillment. They no longer gain satisfaction from academic achievement or social success. Eventually they may become so maladjusted that they need an Outward Bound adventure to bring them back to health. Deprived of everything but their most basic needs, they learn to fend for themselves and thereby appreciate their own strengths and resources.

Parents who rush to give their children "every opportunity" and the newest technological antidote to boredom may in fact be depriving their children of their greatest resource; namely, their brains.

For no matter how interactive the game nor how exciting the computer program, there is no substitute for real-time interaction with the ups and downs of reality.