After years of being a person who plays games...I find that sometimes I have to defend my game playing by stating that I believe in Christ, too.
Why is that necessary?
It makes me feel frustrated...
It makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong....
It makes me feel evil.....
A drawing, a game, a product doesn't become evil or demand you to be evil. Sometimes the person interpreting the game makes it bad. Now I hate conflict, it makes my stomach turn. But today I had a Dad....a well meaning man, who loves his son and wants what's best for him come to the store. This Dad was wondering if his son stole some cards from us. His son had no money as far as he knew, but yesterday, his son came home with a bunch of cards, apparently given to him by a friend. After being confronted by his Mom he was told to hand them over. What he did next was wrong, he found them and took them back.
Now he could have spoken up and showed the benefits of the game. He could have calmly discussed the concerns. But as I told his Dad the game is a great learning game. So why was he hiding it? Then it came out. Well the Dad told me 'we don't allow that kind of game in our house' ....it's evil....as he pointed to a drawing of a horned monster.
Now it takes all my patience to have these chats with parents. I always start out with 'I understand, I am Catholic'....But why do I need to justify my position? I followed this with, 'this games teaches math, strategy and resource management'. His Dad said "well then why would he want it? He's bad at math" UGH!! I gently told him maybe his son realized math is not as bad as he thought. It's a great learning tool and an amazing game.
We shook hands when he left and I hope he will go home and think about this game differently. I did tell him there is far worse things for your son to be into..... So now here I am in the back room, writing this and praying that this child be given the chance to seek out things that are good for him. Even if it scares his folks, it's not like it's drugs, or alcohol. But "Evil"? I think not.
Love, Lynn
