"May you live all the days of your life."

You wonder sometimes which is more disheartening: the content of television shows or the number of us who lie mesmerized by them. While there seems to be a proliferation of new sports or physical activities, you wonder sometimes if that just means there are more things that we can watch. Are we more involved in life and the world around us or less? Critics of the age have pointed the finger at consumerism as our besetting vice. If it's not our own vice, it's certainly a temptation for all of us. If, along with consumerism, we take our frequent willingness to be entertained rather than to do anything, we could probably name our chief vice passivity. Counter to this is a spirit that sees life and its swiftly passing moments as opportunities that urge us to act, to do. An often quoted Irish toast goes: "May you live all the days of your life." Living here evidently means more than just surviving or existing; it means we consciously use our moments, our breath, our wondrous opportunities to do something more demanding than watching others get their exercise or simply taking in what technology offers. The people around us, from family to friends, especially benefit from our active interest and love, and, I suspect, most of us would feel some pulsating meaning and point to life, too, as a result.