KYLE writes:

“Resist” is the moniker of the cultural revolution and a call to action for those who share in impotent, child-like rage towards patriarchal authority. If anger qualifies for proof of their sincerity, then those who use this slogan must be for real but, does it seem that the average person resists much of anything these days? Is there a solitary moment in their daily lives when they don’t indulge their every desire?

Recent studies show that the average person touches [his] cell phone 2,617 times per day. Do they resist picking up their iPhone every 30 seconds to receive their brain treat dopamine from a text message or Facebook notification? Do they resist the urge to eat out every day of the week? Nope, as  American obesity rates have hit all-time highs according to the most recent CDC study on the prevalence of obesity among adults and youth in the United States.

We live in a world where one can purchase anything on their Amazon wish-list and have it delivered to their doorstep the next day. In the days when stores closed at 6:00 pm, if you needed an item not carried in the store, you special ordered it from the catalog and sometimes had to wait for weeks to receive it. Today you can sit in bed and do some online shopping on your iPhone before dozing off, increasing the chance of impulse purchases. Where’s the restraint in consumer spending when Americans are headed towards $1 trillion in credit card debt?

With 80% of college students engaging in casual sex, it’s safe to say they aren’t resisting lust, despite the danger of disease. Do they resist addictions to sex, pornography and drugs — grave afflictions to an entire generation with no remedy in sight? Could they resist spending money on tattoos and piercings that desecrate their bodies? More young people have tattoos and piercings today than ever before according to an American Academy of Pediatrics study released in 2017, so, apparently not. Americans brand themselves at every turn with no visible space spared, be it their vehicles with bumper stickers or bare flesh with ink inserted through thousands of microscopic cuts. They’re truly the bastard children of brand marketing.

How many of these people resists the temptation to despair over personal circumstances? With 1 in 6 Americans on some form of anti-depressant, it’s clear that as a society we’ve fallen into spiritual acedia. Above all else, we should strive to resist acedia for it is a greater threat to our souls than any president or worldly vice. This category isn’t mutually exclusive from those already mentioned, in fact, they’re often linked.

“Resist” is a fitting slogan for a vapid generation that lives for this world. These banners are waved by the new puritans who plead for Victorian respect towards the pets of progressive thought like homosexuals, feminists, and illegal aliens while they show no such mercy for those who are best equipped for re-instituting a true culture of morality–traditional Christians. They’re quick to distort Bible verses on charity and tolerance to guilt Christians, but Satan, too, recited verse when he promised the world to Jesus in the desert. Our Lord’s reply to the deceiver was an example of true resistance that goes unacknowledged in our world today. It’s a time when people want for nothing but resist nothing, including the greatest threat: themselves. If one cannot master or resist primal desires, one cannot expect to be successful in overcoming the trials of life or to earn eternal happiness.

To find examples of resistance to true evil we must seek out the writings of the saints who show us how holy we can be in the face of temptation. The early Christian Desert Fathers provide ample wisdom for living in true poverty–to be apart from the world while living in it. The prayer methods of Saints John Vianney, Benedict, and Teresa of Avila are all good examples for how to beat the devil. Perhaps these protesters would be best served to learn about Christ and His hour of persecution and how in the face of unjust persecution, corrupt worldly leadership and mob rule. He displayed true resistance by conforming His will to the will of His Father in Heaven. His will be done, not ours.

— Comments —

Patrick O’Brien writes:

Recent studies show that the average person touches [his] cell phone 2,617 times per day.

If this is true, during 16 hours of being awake, the average person will touch his phone about every 20 seconds.

I doubt it.

Johanna writes:

I’m smiling as I write this. I saw a sticker on a rear car fender yesterday. On the first line were the words, “not normal”; the second line was larger and said, “RESIST.” Need I say more?

Kyle writes:

In response to Mr. O’Brien, this seemed like a lot to me, too, then I thought about what the study was tracking. The Dscout study claims that “average users spent 145 minutes on their phones and engaged in 76 phone sessions per day….Actions like typing, tapping, and swiping the phone’s screen counted as a “touch.”

In 2016, Apple corroborated the claim by acknowledging that users unlock their iPhone 80 times per day by TouchiD.

The empirical evidence is all around us during the day. People seem to be glued to these digital talismans, no matter where they are. You see people on them while standing in line at Chipotle, while they eat lunch, sitting in the parking lot before driving, at a red light, when skipping a song they don’t like on Spotify. If you add up all the individual times the phone is touched, meaning when the finger is lifted and brought back down again for unlocking the phone, texting, social media, pictures, calling, e-mails etc., it’s easily possible to touch the phone 2,000 times per day.

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