Modern Day Gladiators

I've a bit of an obsession with Italy.  I mean who doesn't for goodness sakes.  It's Italy.  But when I think about the time when I eventually visit, I feel like I will need at least a month.  One week for each major city/area I'm in love with: Venice, Rome, Milan, Sicily, and that is not to speak of the specific sites like Pompeii, Lake Como, Leaning Tower of Pisa that I wouldn't or couldn't miss that aren't really in those cities but I would incorporate into one of the surrounding areas.  Okay so I may need a whole summer of gypsy style travel through the county.  Elizabeth, think Summer 2025. 

But I love Rome and everything about it, mainly its history.  You see I love history and every good city has some.  I love the religious history but more importantly the cultural history.  I imagine the Colloseum is one of the largest draws in the area, and I'm right with the masses.  It doesn't hurt tourism I suppose to have movies being made about gladiators featuring notable actors and hotties half clad in "period attire".  But surprisingly I can't watch some of those movies. 

You see a little known secret about me, I'm really sensitive to violence - physical violence especially.  Still to this day, I close my eyes while watching a movie with it in, even something seemingly small as watching someone get beat up in a local fist fight.  Imagine my horror at movies like Braveheart, Rocky, even Gladiator and a slew of others.

Years ago, when the first seasons of Real World and Survivor became popular, I watched with rapt attention.  I was hooked from the start on this so-called Reality TV.  It shouldn't have been a big surprise since I already was a fan of the precursors to reality TV, shows such as The Dating Game, The Newlywed Show and Miss America Pageants.  Like many others, I watched more and more reality TV, becoming most obsessed with The Bachelor.  Since it's debut in 2002, I've loosely followed all 18 seasons of The Bachelor, the accompanying 9 seasons of The Bachelorette and even the 3 Bachelor Pad Seasons.

It started with my naïve and romantic notion of finding true love, segued into my love of people watching (so I'm a voyeur and a narcissist), cruelly turned into my mocking of humanity and "stupid" people and finally circled to disbelief and concern.

I mean here I was being a modern day watcher of "the Games".  These people either wittingly or unwittingly (I'm still not sure which is worse) were participating in the destruction of not only their bodies but their souls.  Spirituality was being pummeled and destroyed as I watched contestant after contestant use promiscuity to claim attention, humiliation to bully others emotionally, and alcohol to numb their conscious as well as promote the idea that they are carefree and fun.  And I was shocked that it had taken me so long to realize that this violence to spirit is probably a whole lot worse than the physical violence of historical gladiators.

Because in the great scheme of things...most people believe in God, Heaven and Hell.  So despite the abuse and possible loss of the body here on Earth, a semblance of life continues and the promise of Heaven remains.  But as to the spiritual dying that I see and speak of occurring every day, being watched most every evening during prime time TV, and ensuing soul destruction of contestant and viewer alike the continuation of this existence is worse than anything imaginable here on Earth.  Because the morally vapid will escape this life to be cast into the next with the same issues only intensified and where will that leave them when they are spiritually dead?