OK, because I’m a survivor junkie I have to offer my 2 cents on last night’s finale…
Going into last night I, like many others, hoped that Yau man would be rewarded for his act of generosity (and it WAS a generous act, even if it had strategic value to him personally). And I’ve gotta say, I believed in Dreamz. I was cheering for him too, hoping that he’d have the opportunity to make good on his promise – and that in doing so he’d be recognized as a man deserving of the final 3 anyway. I don’t know what it is about him – but I’ve felt sympathy for him for awhile. Even when he was making mistakes or doing stupid things. It was easy for me to be sympathetic and to rationalize that he wasn’t well equipped to make great decisions because of his background. I was pretty able to see that if I grew up with nothing, and with no quality parental input or mentoring and I went on a show where lying and deceit were part of the game, and all I had to do to was to go back on a promise in order to guarantee myself a share of the runner up prize and have a chance at $1M – I would probably have made the same decision.
It actually frustrated me to think that so many watching the show would judge him so harshly from their comfortable homes, watching on big screen TVs with two cars parked in the attached garage. I think we’re all a lot more capable of making those kinds of wrong decisions than we’re generally willing to admit.
But here’s the piece that cut like a knife – when they went back and replayed the footage from the original promised and Dreams “swore to God” that he’d keep his promise – ugh, my stomach dropped. I think that many in our Culture (both Christian and non-Christian) love to point the finger at someone when they make Christianity look bad. I admit, I was angry that he said what he said and did what he did, BUT what the millions of viewers didn’t here was that we all make similar mistakes and GOD FORGIVES THEM ALL!
That takes me to the final tribal counsel. First, it goes without saying that the kind of taunting, bullying, verbal abuse and strange logic that we saw from bitter cast-offs like Alex and Lisi were painful to watch and didn’t reflect favorably on the characters who launched “said assaults.” But it was Boo’s segment that conflicted me the most.
On one hand, I was thrilled to death that he was boldly proclaiming his Faith to a national audience. On the other hand, where was this character and these values throughout the game? Were they just edited out? That’s a possibility. Back to the first hand – I was glad to see him say that he still had hope for Dreamz, but on the other I felt that throwing this in his face they way he did might not have been the way Jesus would have chosen to handle it. I reflected also on the way that Boo approached the final three when it was his turn. He warned them that they’d better “wipe those smiles of their faces” - why? Because this holy Christian Warrior was about to show the nation how “real Christians” conduct themselves? Or was he a bit self righteous and grandstanding just a teeny tiny bit?
I love it when Christianity invades pop-culture, but this was really a tough one for me to watch. I was cheering for God in that episode – excited that He’d be brought some glory, but man, I just kept getting that let down, disappointed feeling. Don’t get me wrong, there is hope and forgiveness for all – I know that – I was just hoping that the millions that watch the show would be witnessed to in an awesome and unexpected way last night.
I’ll keep watching, and I’ll pray that Pastor Benny gets a shot to witness before this audience some day!
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