Summer cheats

With summer only a few weeks around the bend, students are super-restless to get out there and enjoy! After all that work, projects, presentations, [PANT! PANT! PANT!] examinations and competitions, they’re surely entitled to a big long BREAK! Will get to the subject of entitlement some other day.

The students, however, are quite aware by experience that this is only a spontaneous reaction. Summer, in fact, poses a challenge for them. What to do with all that time? And sometimes, things become more serious and rough when they know that there are certain factors during this break that seem to await them, stalk them and lead them to undesired and restless occasions of guilt and vice!

Yup, summer can be quite challenging to so many young people today. This is so true when they have no clear end in mind. Their parents may offer some possible getaways but, unfortunately, these cannot cover the entire vacation period. Parents also know, and are concerned, that the children could be left on their own being unproductive.

The question of what to do with and how to spend ALL that time is always the main problem. When people, especially the young, are left with too much time on their hands, problems often crop up. This is only proves the old and wise adage: “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop!”

Oh, yes, the devil! Without beating around the bush, let as clearly say that he also eagerly awaits summer, because it gives him many occasions to lead people astray. Unlike us, St. Josemaría says, that “he never takes a holiday! (Christ is Passing By, no. 217).” He knows his time is limited and he hasn’t got eternity to bring as many people away from God and into Hell.

Summer for the devil is his playground. He deploys all sorts of ‘entertaining’ events, many of them are not new since he hasn’t changed his devices since then. Old as he may seem, this fallen angel is still wise and sneaky. He is a patient hunter who cunningly waits for the right moment to spring the trap when we least expect it.

In his old playground he has the rusty slide of our desire to seek ‘comfort’ and often leads us to simply slouch around the whole day. There’s also the jungle gym that often entangles us with many material attachments that make us delay our religious duties. There are the see-saws and swings that endlessly make us think we are doing many things, but are actually stuck in the same place.

Finally, the sandbox, that turns into a sand trap, where our castles of good intentions are whimsically toppled over by a bully’s devastating kick or a stray gust of wind.

How can we avoid getting caught in this web of self-indulgence that ends up in devious habits? Since many of today’s youth play video games, I have often been asked if it was a sin to use CHEATS in them. I often say it isn’t a sin because one is playing against a computer and would only be fooling oneself.

Moreover, every game really has cheats. They exist because the game designers use them to check for bugs in the program. Thus, they enter ‘cheat commands’ to allow them to examine every part of the game. In fact, these cheats are available via the internet in websites hosting the thousands of game cheats. If you’re not a real gamer and are only interested to see the game’s progress, then cheats are for you. Now this idea of cheats in video games could be useful in winning the summer challenge.

In calling summer a game, I’m not implying that one directly engages the enemy, the bad dude –the devil– in order to outwit all his obstacles. Nope! Rule #1: he is a spirit, a fallen angel, and therefore as mere mortals, we are no match for him. Thus, in spiritual combat, one should never attempt to directly fight him. So how are we going to win?

By rule #2: we win by battling against our disordered tendencies. This has one important advantage: we actually grow in virtue and beef up our spiritual muscles and increase our ascetical stamina. So with what weapons do we engage the summer challenge? I guess, pretty much the usual ones: prayer, little constant sacrifices and the Sacraments, especially the Holy Mass and Confession.

And rule #3: apply some summer cheats! *Disclaimer: these cheats are proven to work, but not everyone may know how to apply them properly. Practice makes perfect!

a) Keep a schedule – this is one of the best cheats against summer’s magnetic lazy atmosphere. In video games, this is like seeing all the possible challenges one will meet ahead. With a schedule you have a ‘bird’s-eye view’ not of the enemy, but of strategically positioning yourself to avoid wasting time, resources and talents.

b) Have reading plan – boring as this may sound, it is like the ‘power plant’ of winning against boredom, laziness and surfing for occasions of sin. When we inject our minds and imaginations with good ideas, stories about noble deeds and persons, etc., we start becoming more creative, analytical and even challenging of ourselves in setting life ideals and convictions.

c) Upgrade yourself – to win in any game, the player always looks for ‘upgrades’ or the increase in ‘XP’ (playing experience). Upgrading in summer means either polishing a talent (i.e. learning a language, skill, sports or volunteer work) you already have, or learning something new that will prove useful in the future. Even though you may not catch it right away, at least you’ve opened a new door for yourself.

d) Share those cheats – don’t play alone! Get your friends to do the same, challenge one another and support each other so that as a team, you can win together. And winning together is better than enjoying alone!

e) Game over – never take the previous points lightly! Video games offer three lives or more, but in real time, this you have got only ONE life! So live to win for love of God and others!