Grown Ups Playing with Dolls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkuwjTZRYKo

Click the above link!!

I saw this on 20/20 last month, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. These dolls are called "Reborn" and they are impeccable in their resemblance to actual babies.I can't find the 20/20 segments online because of copyright issues, but as I watched these women talk about the dolls, I felt very sad for them.

These dolls, which cost thousands of dollars, become like real children to their owners. Some women have created nurseries in their own home for them. Others celebrate their birthdays with parties. But almost all of the "parents" take their "children" out in public, passing them off as real babies.

I think that it's really easy to call these people crazy, and to write them off. And for some of them, maybe they are nuts. I'll admit to being totally creeped out by watching these people basking in the compliments of strangers as they pushed these dolls around in expensive strollers.It's weird to me.

The psychologist on the program talked about how people forming relationships with inanimate objects can be harmful because they can never be requited. And also, when people use these dolls as a means of gaining attention from strangers, it's also a sign of something bigger.What is that something bigger...

Loneliness.

Loneliness is one of the deepest, more painful emotions to deal with. I think that's why solitary confinement is considered the worst type of punishment. We were born to be societal, in community with one another. To be healthy, we need to both give and receive love. To co-exist with each other.

The recluse. The outcast. The bullied. These people can become dangerous.

The Unibomber. The Columbine Killers. These are all people who allowed their loneliness to consume them...When people find alternative ways to fulfilling that part of human nature, it does something to the psyche.

Think about it...I know lots of people who would rather live in a fantasy world than in reality. I myself enjoy spending some time online in Second Life. I mean, I think all of us would like to from time-to-time, but there are some who take it to extremes. I think that there is a danger to removing the human connections of this world. Not everything can be automated or substituted. I think that this is why I cringe at how much my kids play video games. Sort of like how social drinking is considered acceptable, but drinking alone in the basement equates a problem, so goes video games in my mind.

The Wii at a party is fun stuff. Heck, I've even been known to play a few rounds with the kids. It's social, it's fun. But I just don't get it when people would prefer to spend 14 hours on a Saturday trying to beat a video game by themselves. In that instance, I'm glad my kids usually play these games together.

When I was younger, we got a Rampage like game for the Atari for Christmas. My brother and I decided to spend however long it took to beat it, and it was most of the day. But do you know what I remember about that time? I remember the stupid things my brother and I said as we devoured the buildings, ate the people, and conquered cities. I remember hanging out with my brother all day. In the end, the "finale" was hugely disappointing. The game just ended and "CONGRATULATIONS" appeared on the screen. All our hard work for that? (Okay, so I guess I also remember the ANGER)

Had I played the game by myself and that was all I got out of it, I would have been super-pissed.Even now if I waste 20 minutes playing Word Challenge on Facebook, I end up feeling guilty at my non-productivity.

That isn't to say that I don't like down time or time alone. I think that when it becomes a preference though, to all other activities which involve other people, it is a problem.The woman who began this "Reborn" business did so because she suffered seven miscarriages, and she was never able to carry a child to term. That had to have been horrible grief to deal with. However, and maybe I'm being judgemental here, it doesn't seem as though she's fully recovered. Whenever she makes a doll which she thinks would have looked like her own children, she keeps it. For me, a constant inanimate reminder of all I've lost would not be therapeutic.

And no, these women aren't hurting anyone. And no, "make-believing" isn't a sin. But I guess I just wish that there wasn't a "need" for these dolls. I wish that everyone out there had someone real to love, and someone real to love them. Oh, wait... I believe that there is. Maybe if Jesus and the gospel was marketed just a little more accurately in this world, people would be reborn instead of buying Reborn.