{"id":39707,"date":"2013-05-16T08:24:54","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T13:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=39707"},"modified":"2013-05-16T08:24:55","modified_gmt":"2013-05-16T13:24:55","slug":"the-best-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/the-best-me\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bestself.pg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week marked the premature end of an all-too-short era in the Williston house when, after a remarkable temper tantrum by my son, Lincoln, we decided to sell the Wii and Xbox on Craigslist.<\/p>\n

It all started, as most family crises do, with a father\/son matchup in Mario Super Sluggers, a Mario Brothers-themed Baseball game for Nintendo Wii. After several weeks of play, Lincoln\u2019s skill had increased considerably and we were finally able to have pretty evenly matched games. \u00a0When his team had a four home-run (including two grand slams!) second inning, I was pretty sure that I was toast. \u00a0Coming back from a ten run deficit is a tall order but, with some strategic pitching changes and a turn of fortune at the plate, I chipped away at his lead and finally tied it up in the ninth inning. \u00a0With Donkey Kong at the plate, Lincoln left Luigi at pitcher just one pitch too long. \u00a0A weak fastball floated over the plate and with one fell swoop of DK\u2019s mighty boxing glove (he doesn\u2019t need a bat because he\u2019s an oversized ape, you see) the walk off home run went sailing out of Bowser Jr.\u2019s Playroom Stadium.<\/p>\n

And then came the theatrics.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t set a stopwatch for official timing purposes but Lincoln didn\u2019t stop screaming in outrage, anger and agony for at least thirty minutes. \u00a0During that time he levied all sorts of accusations at me. \u00a0I cheated, he said, or \u201cwanted him to lose.\u201d \u00a0Grand conspiracy theories were crafted in his six year old mind about how I\u2019d pulled it off. \u00a0I didn\u2019t try and talk reason into him. \u00a0He wouldn\u2019t have heard me over the screams anyway.<\/p>\n

Finally, the drama died down and \u00a0I made him come sit with me at the table and apologize for all of the things he said. This wasn’t the first outburst from him but I was holding out hope that I could use our competitive video game sessions to teach him to be gracious in victory or defeat.\u00a0 I asked him a series of questions:<\/p>\n

\u201cLincoln, do you think that when you were screaming and crying that you were being the best version of yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s Daddy\u2019s most important job in this house?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo make sure that we love Jesus and are the best version of ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd do you think video games make you the best version of yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

We talked for a while longer and I explained that video games, like anything else, don\u2019t make you a bad person but, in our case, they certainly don\u2019t bring out the best in us either. \u00a0They don\u2019t make you smarter, or more creative or even have more fun than you can doing any number of others things, I explained. \u00a0Believe it or not he actually agreed.<\/p>\n

In the end, we struck a grand bargain. \u00a0I would sell the video game systems online and we would take the proceeds and buy a new swing set in the backyard to replace our recently broken one.<\/p>\n

We fill our lives with all kinds of things. \u00a0Some build us up, others just occupy our time and some, regrettably, bring out anything but the best in us. The best version of ourselves is our most passionate, creative, loving and joyful self. \u00a0We owe it to ourselves to figure out what in our lives help \u201ctease out\u201d that best person and which lead us in the other direction. Sometimes it takes a thirty minute Mario-induced break with reality to make these things startlingly clear. \u00a0Sometimes it takes a simple reminder to stop and examine the areas of our lives for them.<\/p>\n

Take a moment and think of the way that you\u2019ve spent your time over the last week or month. \u00a0Look for places, influences and activities (other than household chores) that left you unfulfilled and, simply, didn\u2019t help you be the best version of yourself.<\/p>\n

Take stock of these things and eliminate them if possible. \u00a0Or, if all else fails, replace them with a swing set. \u00a0Because, really, who was ever anything but their best self on a swing?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week marked the premature end of an all-too-short era in the Williston house when, after a remarkable temper tantrum by my son, Lincoln, we decided to sell the Wii and Xbox on Craigslist. It all started, as most family crises do, with a father\/son matchup in Mario Super Sluggers, a Mario Brothers-themed Baseball game… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[112,51,330,1705,165,1676,859,334,1706],"class_list":["post-39707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-acnm","category-blog","tag-catholic-church","tag-catholicism","tag-jesus","tag-mario-super-sluggers","tag-parenting","tag-sanctification","tag-spirituality","tag-video-games","tag-wii","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t