(Photo by Selma Komisky)

Seeing The Positives in Pop Culture

By Ashley Gomez

For this article I want to write about how pop-culture affects our society and how we can use pop-culture in a positive light in order to fully express ourselves.

It is easy to say that pop-culture influences us and the society that we live in. Now, pop-culture comes in a variety of forms, from fashion, to music, movies, and the like. Through these various outlets, we find our likes, our dislikes, and things we want to try for ourselves. All of this can be seen as positive experiences for us, however, most assumptions consider pop-culture a negative aspect of our culture. But why? Most likely, most of us will only ever see the reasons pop-culture is viewed negatively.

Instead, we can take the opportunity to use pop-culture to express ourselves, our interests and eventually our lifelong goals. I remember growing up being so excited to see the commercials advertising the newest shoes or the newest backpack that everyone had to have. Later on, it became wondering who would hear the newest pop album first. I never questioned why it was something we all wanted to have or listen to. But, in retrospect, I do actually believe it formed a lot of the ways I view things about pop-culture. Eventually, through the things I saw in pop-culture, I was able to find things that allowed me to express myself. One of these things was music. Music has been a constant in my life since I was about ten years old. Now being twenty-two, I can happily say that music, and the music I was influenced by, has enriched my life so much more than I thought possible. Through music, I was able to find something I was passionate about, while giving me unforgettable experiences. I learned about my persistence and how to form habits to keep me focused on the task at hand.

Upon reaching college as a musician, it was through music that I first began to learn about the scope of God and His love for me. Through the music I played, it just became easier and easier to follow God and the path that He had in store for me. It soon became clear that I was able to glorify God in the talents that He had given me.

Throughout my experiences as a musician, I have been called to reach others through the music I play. In this, I have been given the chance to live a holy life the way God intended me to live my life. Not only am I capable of glorifying God through my gifts, I am able to share my story with others and share the Lord with them through my gifts. And it was all due to my exposure to pop-culture.

Pop-culture is something we encounter every day; the opportunities for a positive outcome from the pop-culture that surrounds us are endless. Through your interests, you have the ability to glorify God in whatever you do, to live the Holy life that he has called you to.