Wednesday May 24, 2006
Real-life survivors
I gave up watching the TV series Survivor several years ago. They call it a “reality” show. It\’s anything but reality.
If you want a reality show about survivors, talk to senior citizens.
Periodically, I attend an informal gathering of friends and associates who have all, in one way or another, been deeply involved in church work. We\’ve lost two of our number in the last year or so. Another has cancer. One has had several joints replaced. At least two have heart problems; three have high blood pressure…
The legendary Dr. Bob McClure used to call these gatherings “organ recitals.”
“I was visiting a nursing home,” he\’d say. “We had a marvellous organ recital.” He meant that the people talked mostly about what their lungs and livers, hearts and kidneys, were doing. Or not doing.
Unreal situations
There are several sure signs that the TV series is not really reality.
First, its participants are all young, fit, and healthy. They prance around in the sunshine in bikinis. We real-life survivors mostly try to avoid too much sun. And bikinis reveal far too many sags and wrinkles.
Second, the program producers have to invent artificial challenges. No one has to invent challenges for us real-life survivors. A set of stairs, an icy sidewalk, a telephone number, a doctor\’s appointment – any of these can, on occasion, defeat either our bodies or our memories.
Who cares how long some nubile fitness instructor can perch on top of a post in a pond full of crocodiles, when our bodies have trouble getting us out of bed each morning? Who cares how many treasure clues a hairless flat-bellied investment broker can locate, when we can\’t locate our eyeglasses?
And third, the program has to vote people out. In real life, we don\’t get that privilege. I do not personally believe in a “grim reaper” dressed in a burlap hood carrying a scythe who cuts us down. But I can understand how such a belief might have come about. Because the fates that afflict us seem utterly random. One day someone is apparently fit and healthy; the next day she\’s in surgery. Or in long-term care. Or six feet under…
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If you want to order my books, you can call 1-800-663-2775 in Canada, 1-800-328-0200 in the U.S., or order them on-line at the Wood Lake Books website.
For a lighter look at ethics, faith, and life, I recommend Ralph Milton\’s weekly e-newsletter Rumors. You can subscribe to it at the Wood Lake Books home page in Ralph Milton\’s Site, or by sending a note directly to ralphmilton@woodlake.com.
It\’s also worth pursuing Richard Fairchild\’s United Online site. Another site worth visiting is David Keating\’s \”SeemslikeGod\” page.
In Scouts, we kids played a game where a blind-folded person in the center of the circle spins and points. Whoever he points at has to fall down. The last person left standing wins.
I don\’t know where that game originated. Possibly it goes all the way back to the Black Death that plagued Europe in the Middle Ages, apparently knocking off victims at random.
It\’s kind of like another game we used to play – Spin the Bottle. Except that the prize is slightly less desirable than getting to kiss the gorgeous blonde.
And as we grow older, fewer and fewer of us are left standing. Each time another player drops, the survivors feel a little lonelier.
Little wonder we cling to old friends for comfort and support.
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Copyright © 2006 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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