Friday, 28 May 2010

brick by brick, we can build it from the floor, if we hold on to each other, we'll be better than before

i like the message of redemption, of reconciliation and of restoration conveyed in the song.

i have been laid low by a bout of flu which refused to go away and i haven't been able to do much. in fact this is one of the first few days when i'm actually feeling lucid. there so much that we take for granted when all is well, and health must surely rank high up in that list.

i'm just really glad and thankful that i can get back to reading - i've just got started on a fascinating apologetic - and surely getting back to football isn't too far away now, although i'd be playing alot less because of a choice that i've made.

and even to be able to get back here - to write - oh my, what a joy.

and so back to my topic today: redemption, reconciliation, restoration.

this week marks the end of 6 seasons of LOST. 6 years ago, while i was still a secondary 4 boy, i got started on this show, got acquainted with characters like jack, sawyer, sayid, hugo (not to mention fall in love with kate), and now, 6 years later, what an ending.

i will not go into detail about the story arcs but LOST has always been different, special in its own right. there are allusions to christianity, and the underlying themes of good versus evil, of fate and destiny against choice and decision, and of course, the struggles between john and jack, the man of faith against the man of science.

but at the heart of it all, is the relationship of the characters, all of them so very flawed, so fallen. all of them estranged.

jack was a fixer, so intent on fixing things that he lost sight of those that he cares around him. he never felt good enough to his father, and he indirectly caused his father's - a recuperating alcholic - death.

kate has trouble staying put, and is torn between jack and sawyer, and she murdered her step-father.

sawyer is a rogue, fears commitment and conman driven by revenge and killed a wrong man in his hatred. his father killed his mum, before committing suicide when he was a boy.

john is desperate to prove himself, to overcome his own fears of what he cannot do and his father cheated him of his kidney and pushed him out of a building causing him to be paralysed waist down.

sayid is a former torturer trying to make peace with his past and seek the woman whom he loves, but that led him to have to make difficult choices.

jin and sun are a couple who have lost their love for each other. jin is ashamed of his fisherman father, and dislikes the nature of the job that he does for his father-in-law, while sun resents her father for taking her husband from her.

hugo believes that he is cursed and was thought mentally unsound and he suspects his father who left is only back because he won the lottery. but hugo is perhaps the least screwed-up of them all.

and throughout the 6 seasons, we see just how messed-up they all are, how their imperfection led to sufferings, pain and even death.

jack said that he had pretty much ruin everything in his life and a tearful kate replied that he did not, nothing is irreversible.

indeed, at the end, there is redemption, reconciliation, restoration.

i'm so glad that in the end, kate chose jack, it just feels right, and in the end, jack had a chance to speak to his father and reconcile with him. in the end, our mistakes don't matter so much. the message is, everything that we do in this life matters, we only get one life to live, what's done, is done. there're no do-overs, no re-writes, no cheats codes to reset anything. everything that we do, matters.

but as for what we have done, we cannot change anything, but what we can do is to let go, reassured in the promise that in the end, there is redemption and restoration.

in the end, our estrangement and guilt to our loved ones will be reconciled (jack and christian), our guilt our wrongs about others which led to a heavy price being paid will be forgiven (jack and john), our failures despite our best efforts to save others isn't deprecated, but appreciated (jack and boone), our friends will be there despite our mistakes (jack and hugo) and because of our sacrifices for them (jack and desmond) our adverseries that we've come to respect and befriend out of grace and compassion (jack and sawyer) and the ones whom we have loved and held so dearly, but screwed up, they would be there too (jack and kate - one of the most beautiful scenes , no handshakes nor hugs needed, just a smile from kate and a knowing nod from jack as they held hands, even as jack gave up his last breaths), yes they would be there too, and we would be restored.

in the end, it will be alright.

amen.

matt,
00:49:00