Last month during the 2017 G20 summit, I took the weekend off, so to speak, from world affairs. I felt confident the conference in Europe could proceed without me. Instead, I wasted time on Netflix – a time waster if there ever was one.
In addition to being a time killer, Netflix is also addictive. I had already begun my early watching a while back with “Orange Is the New Black.” At its beginning, I was sure that I would not get hooked on a show that centered on a bunch of convicts in a women’s prison, therefore I could quit anytime I chose to – a saying addicts tell themselves. Sure, I could!
Except that I watched until 3 a.m. on Sunday … and again until midnight that night! What is wrong with this educated psychologist that I want to know the lives of trashy women and the trashy prison guards set over them? So much so that I should waste a whole weekend of personal time on them?
In my early life, I could stay up to finish a fascinating book sometimes, but a book’s ending is set from the beginning – a TV serial’s is not. Maybe I learned something about addiction. Maybe Nancy Reagan was right – just say no! Could this be me – citing Nancy Reagan as a model, when I’ve always chosen Eleanor Roosevelt?
So, even though the political melee I’ve been expecting for months is apparently going to be for more months in coming, I will not go back to “Orange Is the New Black.” I cannot be trusted with an addictive subject! For the sake of my country – I can give up my addiction!