Who Is Really Lost?
Posted on June 22, 2007
Filed Under Mark Steele |
As I tend to be an irregular sort of individual, I find it astounding that Jesse Carey has asked me to write regularly for this spanking new Relevant blog (no actual spanking involved). For those of us who have not been introduced, I am Mark Steele, regular (or irregular) contributor to Relevant Magazine as well as author of Flashbang: How I Got Over Myself.
I work in multimedia (www.steelehouse.com) and therefore have an affinity for all things artistic and entertaining. I especially love to discover life truths/God messages therein. So, I’d bet dollars to donuts that my blog entries tend to center around pop culture. I would write this in the magazine, but by the time they print it, the references will be so last decade.
So, before we begin, several unique things about me:
- I have an entry in IMDB, but not Wikipedia.
- I am talented at no sports whatsoever. Not even badminton.
- I cannot say badminton.
- Things I am great at: Wheel of Fortune, identifying 1980’s pop tunes on the first note, knowing obscure actors’ names while forgetting your name.
- My wife makes the best pumpkin bread in the known world.
- I eat too much of it.
- I am far too infatuated with ABC’s Lost
As the season finale just aired, I’ll begin with Lost. There are many haters out there towards this past season and especially towards the mammoth plot twist that closed out the finale (SPOILER WARNING). This perplexes me as I cannot think of a more layered and powerful story arc on television. Let me say as someone who has followed the show from its initial two-hour juggernaut three seasons back: Lost has never lost its way. Those who have trouble with where it has gone or is going are focusing on the minors instead of the MAJOR.
Yes, the mysteries that continually unfold and the promise for them to be answered is an enticing and frustrating viewing experience – but those pursuits are minor in comparison to the true beauty of the story. The MAJOR is the theme that was reinforced by the finale. A theme that deserves – no, NEEDS to be discussed ad infinitum by people of faith. That theme: Can people change? Is the future set in stone? Are we doomed to repeat our mistakes or is there something out there that can form us and transform us so that our past mistakes lose their power and our future is suddenly filled with hope and up for grabs? No matter where we happen to be on the outside, is there a way that we can no longer be lost inside?
The finale revealed that the castaways are indeed rescued a few months in the future but that rescue (ironically) does nothing to change their “lostness.” This is our existential crisis: that we think we know what will make us found, but it usually lands us feeling as lost as before. Suddenly, the show is not about an island that is lost. It’s about people who have always been lost, even before they landed on the island that may just lead them to the truth. The answers to all the conundrums are intriguing, but they pale in comparison to a story arc that dares delve into deep life questions. We each see ourselves in one of the castaways and we root for them to not only survive, but to change. Finale case in point: Charlie and Jack. Charlie did not survive, but he was changed. He remained “lost” but found himself. Jack did survive, but was not changed. He was rescued, but remained lost. Who was better off?
Do we dare look at our own past mistakes (revisit our “flashbacks”) and assess where we stand in this debate? Do we lose ourselves to find God? Do we remain unchanged in hope of rescue that may not come? Where are we looking to find our rescue?
Debate and discuss below.
And, oh yeah – which Lost character are you? Though I wish I were Jack, I think I’m Kate without the mad tree-climbing skillz. I’ll explain why next blog. Until then,
Peace out.
Steele
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8 Responses to “Who Is Really Lost?”
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Mark!
I laughed when I saw that you’d be “regularly” blogging here. While you’re around though, you should check out some of the stuff in my section (under “God,” then “Worship”). If you put my name into the search bar on the main page, it will pull up my articles. The latest article in there (as of today) is “Sidewalk Chalk Crowns” by my good friend Lindsay.
Anyhow, good to see you blogging here on the amped up Relevant online.
Oh and…I want some of Kaysie’s pumpkin bread! Tell her I said hello.
Rach
p.s. I didn’t really respond to the meat of your blog…so I wanted to submit that the question of if people really change has plagued me as of late. I’ve approached it so many different ways…with philosophy, theology, reason, hope, blind faith…but the bottom line is this: I have no idea.
That’s not very settling. But it’s where I am. I’m a strong believer in redemption and grace to not only be forgiven, but to be empowered to change. Not just justification, but transformation. But as far as being able to tell is someone really will change is something I will never figure out.
*Rach
loved flashbang, and love lost, would like to hear more of your thoughts… i think i am a little bit like a lot of the people on lost, but most identify with sawyer…
I was a huge fan of flashbang (just finished a small group study of it actually) and also a huge lost fan… I think I probably am most like Charlie so I was really sad to see his departure, though they really did do him justice.
So when do we get to see another book? I want to read some more public pant moistening stories…
I’m really glad you’ll have more content with RELEVANT. I loved FLASHBANG, as it was simultaneously the only book in living memory to literally make me “LOL” and to have such an impact on my walk. Kudos to you sir. Chocolate Chip Kudos to you.
i’ve just discovered your RELEVANT blog and I’m so happy that you’re blogging about LOST! the finale blew my mind. you raise some very interesting points here about change. even though, they seem to have very different personalities, I feel i identify with parts of Hurley and Kate.
I think I identify myself with the couple in that random episode that get burried alive. And by that I mean I know I have my own story, I’m just not sure where it fits into the big scheme of things.
To answer one pseduo-allegory with another… I will respond first with a quote from the beginning of my TV addiction, One Tree Hill:
“Hansel said to Gretel: Let us drop these bread crumbs so that together we can find our way home because losing our way would be the most cruel of things. And once you lose yourself, you have two choices. Find the person you used to be or lose that person completely. Because sometimes you have to step outside of the person you’ve been and remember the person you were meant to be. The person you wanted to be. The person you are.”
Being that I am the type of person to dwell on past mistakes for a bit longer than is healthy, I will approach this with a slightly different perspective. While it is good to dig deep into your past to find direction for your future, really, it all comes down to one simple thing that (ironically) Jesus told us a long time ago…
We are suppose to be as children if we want a piece of the Kingdom. Not act like children, not just pretend to be a child, but actually exist as a child exists… not in the general form, but in the very specific form- We are suppose to be the pure and unadulterated version of ourself. Nothing more and nothing less. As children, we are, for a brief time, not afraid of this. Then as we grow older, we begin to twist and distort our identity to conform to this world.
Searching the past is great, but only so far as you can remember who you use to be before the world told you to change. Once you can reestablish your identity as God intended, then you can begin to grow in that identity, and mature as you were meant to, as you… not just as a clone of the world.