Selling my video game system was one of the best things I have done in a long time. I used to have a system, then I sold it, then I regressed, and broke down, and bought another system, and had that for a few years, then traded up to a Sony PS2. I had the PS2 for almost 2 years, and looking back on it, it was an entire waste of time and money, that resulted in nothing.

When I thought about it in a deeper sense the other day, it dawned on me that kids who play a lot of video games are affected mentally. These games aren't like the ones we played as kids. We played Pac-Man, and Space Invaders, and Missile Command. These games were no more harmful than a game of checkers. We probably would have played video checkers if we could. But because the games today are so realistic, and are so like watching a movie, or a TV show, they do actually have a mental effect on kids minds. There are games that glorify violence, destruction, and vandalism. These same games often relay negative feedback to the players when tasks aren't completed in time or correctly. I am sure these things have an effect on kids' minds, because they were having an effect on my adult mind. I would think about ways of trying to win the game, while I was at work. I would be literally angry when I couldn't get through a level or stage of a game, and I would ignore almost everything else going on around me. My wife would ask me to come to bed, I'd tell her I'd be right there, and I'd get up turn off the console, and check my watch, 2 hours later!!! There were probably many weekends when I had spent more than 4 hours at a stretch playing a game. 4 hours spent staring at a little screen. I couldn't sit through a 4 hour movie, or play, but there I was in lala land in front of my video game system.

One day I woke up on the right side of bed, and I thought, it had to stop. I announced to wife that I was selling my PS2, and she almost couldn't believe it. She asked me if I was going to be okay, as if I was losing a friend or giving away a family pet. I told her, of course I would be okay. I put the ad in the paper, and while I was at it, I placed ads for some other junk that I had around the house. No one called for the other stuff. I don't think I got one single call. But for the game system, there were 35 calls the first day. I couldn't believe it. I got full asking price, within the first day.

The guy that bought it said he had one, and was getting this one for his father in law, who wanted to get into video games. I sold it to him, but I felt kind of bad for corrupting the old geezer's mind. I thought the number of people who called made a pretty sad statement on society, that there were that many people out there who wanted to sit around and do nothing for hours on end. I told one of my co-workers that I sold it, and he almost fainted. He started saying "But whyyyy???", (and he sounded like a little girl whining, because she couldn't get her way!) I told him I couldn't stand the feeling of stupidity when I got up after sitting there in a daze for 4 hours. He said, "It's your wife, isn't it...She's the one who told you to sell it." "No, it was my own decision." I beamed from ear to ear. I looked at him, and then realized that he was sadly trapped by his own game system. It had warped and gelled his mind, it was turning him into a little boy (as if he wasn't one already), but it was definetly making him worse. Somehow, I had been able to break free from the clutches of the video game menace. I can see that it was almost like a drug now. In fact, I remember there was a Star Trek episode where everyone on the ship got addicted to this strange virtual reality video game, and the only person who survived was Wesley Crusher.