now at Summer Camp : Mortal Kombat 78!!

It was a long drive to work today.

There was a heavy drizzle coming down and Northern Virginia’s best and bravest drivers were on the road make to insure that everyone following them was traveling at least ten miles per hour below the speed limit. These driving elite have a saying – if you can see the blacks of my stuffed animal’s eyes (that line my rear windshield) you’re following too close. God bless the bold and the brave, if it weren’t for them, it would have taken me far less than an hour and a half to get into the office. Creeping along as I was, I had a lot of time to admire…just about everything I passed. I passed one of the first items of interest while still in the ‘burn. It was a sign advertising a summer camp. I’m assuming this “summer camp” is run by Ashburn’s board of recreation, or something equivalent. I don’t know how that sort of thing operates down here. That’s all beside the point. The catch line on this sign – in big, bold, red letters: VIDEO GAMES. Below that, in smaller letters – outdoor activities, sports, day trips.

Um. Video games? They must’ve missed the Fox Five exclusive: America’s Children – Getting Fatter Every Day

I could be wrong. Maybe more and more parents are subscribing to the notion that it’s perfectly acceptable to send Junior off to camp with a bag of ho hos and his favorite Playstation game. Perhaps Junior doesn’t get enough XBOX360 action at home. Now, this might seem like a crazy thing for me to say, but shouldn’t parents encourage their children to be active? Don’t get me wrong, I do see the value in video games. I loved them when I was a kid, but the second Mama Rossi saw my eyes go from sparkling to glassy, the C64 was turned off and I was ushered into the back yard to engage in any activity that would raise my heart rate with out raising my blood pressure. Running around is generally a good start.

Back to Camp Sedentary.

I was a camp counselor for the Fairfield Board of Recreation for many years. My last year working for the Board of Rec, I was the director of the camp. That’s right. I ran the show. You best believe, video gaming was kept to the bare, bare minimum. How many times did I allow a camper to bring in their gaming console? That would be…never. Movies came out once in a blue moon, to be read as, rainy days, or days that were too blistering hot. Can’t have the kiddies dropping from heat stroke. Basketball, baseball, wiffleball, ultimate frizbee, capture the flag....and of course, dodgeball. A staple of summer camp.

There was an anti-social lot that would bring in their Gameboys – that I couldn’t stop. I would encourage these kids to interact with the other campers or I’d force them to shoot some hoops with me. In the end, the wallflowers would almost always become integrated with the bunch.

I’ll tell you this much, though - VIDEO GAMES was not catch phrase of this camp.