Fantasy and Reality

I think one of the reasons I am so delusional is because when I was growing up I got most of my morals from TV; not my parents.

My parents and other adults were always saying one thing and doing another. My father would tell me to turn the other cheek, then the first time my mom would piss him off he'd haul off and whack her. The only other cheek he would turn was my mother's.

TV on the other hand offered a safe haven. A place where a man was only as good as his word. Where honor was worth dying for. I gravitated towards Westerns. The code of the old west. Different shows had different moral themes; Bonanza reinforced the belief that wealthy people were good people, Have Gun Will Travel posited that a hired assassin could still be educated and culturally refined. The Bounty Hunter each week proposed that those who transgress must pay the price.

So when I got out in the real world it was quite a shock to discover what was going on in my home was reality and what I idolized on TV was fantasy.