Modern Trojan Horses

Family is at the heart of our culture. Our families are the source of life’s greatest happiness and sorrows. If we are devoted members of our families and keep the desires of our hearts on our families, we can find joy at home. But there are distractions and these distractions come in the form of Trojan Horses.

The story of The Trojan Horse takes place during the Trojan War around the 8th century when the Greeks were fighting Troy in a war for ten years. After exhausting all of their ideas and war tactics without success, the Greeks decided to try something different. They built a giant wooden horse and hid their strongest soldiers inside. They rolled the horse to the front of the gate of Troy and picked one man to stay outside the wall with the horse. This man convinced the Trojans that he was left behind and that the horse was a gift offering to the goddess Athena meant to appease her since they had desecrated her temple. The Trojans opened the gate and rolled the horse in. Waiting until night time and after the guards became drunk, the waiting soldiers jumped out and took the city by surprise.

What might seem like a good idea and probably is when used appropriately, can turn into a major distraction to family life and happiness. Think about what priorities we keep in our families. Spending time of interaction with each other strengthens relationships. We need to keep on track in our families as the adversary throws us these “Trojan Horses” to distract us of what is really important. The biggest, most obvious Trojan Horse is mass media including:

· Internet (social media)

· video games,

· cell phones and

· television

All these distractions keep us from spending more time in doing what we need to do together. The movie, television and music industries have contributed to moving us away from our rich and vibrant Native heritage.

What is most important to us? We all have desires to be successful and have a happy family life. We just need to be watchful of these Trojan Horses in our life and make wise choices for our families.

To honor our culture and our past, we must improve upon the present. This is accomplished through strong fathers and mothers who are devoted to their families by setting an example and showing compassion in both good time and times of adversity; even through modern Trojan Horses.