A Life-Lesson From "24"

My wife and I have totally gotten into the show “24.” Yes, we know we’re about nine years late, but we never got into it while it was on TV in the first place. We bought the DVD set for season one after several recommendations, and we got hooked right away.

Agent Jack Bauer is a pretty tough guy with a soft spot for his family. Many of you have already seen all of this, but for those that haven’t, here’s a quick summary of what is happening. The series follows a day-in-the-life of Special Agent Jack Bauer who works for the Counter Terrorism Unit of the United States. (CTU, for those in the know.) At midnight, CTU gets a tip that a Presidential Candidate is the target of a terrorist organization, and gets to work. Meanwhile, Jack’s Daughter and eventually wife get kidnapped by the same group, forcing Jack to do some things they want in order to keep them safe. However, while some things Jack does are outside of his orders, and even against the law, He does his very best to maintain His integrity and follow through with his original assignment to keep the Candidate Safe.

Meanwhile, on the Campaign Trail, Senator David Palmer (the aforementioned candidate) is faced with several integrity issues of his own. He discovers his son was involved in an accident seven years ago, and his wife and kids have kept it from him. Several of his high-paying campaign donors are also involved in keeping some damaging information about this accident away from the media because they really want him in office. In order to keep it quiet, they do some things that are illegal as well. As it turns out Senator Palmer goes public himself with all of this, in spite of what it may do to his career as a politician.

We are exactly one episode away from finishing this first season, and so far, I’ve really related to both of these men. Not, because I’m a tough guy, and certainly not because of my love of politics, but because I see two men who love their family, are doing the best they can to do their jobs well, and they are trying very hard to maintain a life of integrity. This is who I want to be. I WANT to be a good husband and father. I WANT to do my job well, and I WANT to maintain a life of integrity.

I will be the first to admit that I do act selfishly. I’m not immune to that. But I would like to believe that once I realize what I’m doing, I take steps to correct the problem, and even apologize to those who have been slighted or hurt by what I’ve done. I’ve had to apologize to my wife and children on more than one occasion. I hope that what I’ve taught my boys is not that living a perfect life is what I expect from them, but rather that they do their best to live according to what is Right, and when they do make mistakes to own up to them and to accept responsibility for their actions.

Unfortunately, in the world today there are many people who don’t really care about integrity. They do what they want to do, and have little or no regard for the possible consequences. They don’t consider how their actions could negatively (or even positively) affect others, it’s all centered around self. Instead of taking responsibility, they look for someone else to blame, or make excuses and dismiss their mistakes. I see too many students adopting this lifestyle, and it scares me. What scares me more is that in some cases, the folks we depend on to hold people accountable for their actions are also those who have a philosophy that excuses and enables this lack of integrity. Eventually, no one will be held accountable for what they’ve done, and all you will need is a good excuse to dismiss your wrong-doing.

Could I be over stating or taking this a bit too dramatically? I actually hope so, because then none of what I fear will come to bear. But why take chances? If more people lived a life of integrity, it would not eradicate conflict. There would still be disagreements, but the way these are settled would certainly be more civil and not so prone to harmful outcomes. If we all took a bit more time to think about how each of our options will affect others, I believe there would be a drastic, noticeable change in our society, and that it would happen quickly.

While all of Jack Bauer’s plans have not been perfect, and he is not without his faults, at least he appears to be trying to do the right thing in the whacked-out circumstances he’s facing. That, I believe, is what seems to keep him going, has earned him quite a few supporters, and is an admirable quality. I can’t say the same for that surprise traitor...

Wind-Up Cars

It’s been awhile, and I regret that. I like to put things down because I remember them better that way, and too many times there have been things worth remembering that I forgot because I didn’t type them out or write them down. My loss.

I did see something yesterday that caused me to want to get back to this blog. As my family and I were driving home from church, we approached a rather busy intersection. As we were turning right, the light for those wishing to proceed straight ahead changed to green and the line of traffic began to move forward.

I heard one of those cars that had the modifications to make it sound “cooler” and louder, which really just make them sound like glorified wind-up cars. For a reason unknown to me, I felt the need to turn and look, and when I did I saw that someone in one of these wind-up cars felt the need to zoom around the first car in the line of forward proceeding traffic. Not really such a big deal in the grand scheme of things, right? Except that they did this in the middle of the intersection that was already limited in space, and placed others in danger because of their impatience.

To make it more ridiculous, if that little wind-up car had waited all of 3 more seconds to get across the intersection, the road becomes a two-lane road and they would have had plenty of room to make the pass safely and legally. But alas, that was not the case, and as a result, they have become the focus of my blog and will internationally be known as that “irresponsible wind-up car.”

Okay, so it’s not that international, but it still helped me to remember how incredibly selfish we are becoming in our world. So much of what it marketed is done by appealing to our sense of self. We are encouraged to grab all we can, and not just worry about the consequences later, but don’t even consider what consequences could even occur. This is a dangerous line of thinking that is catching up to us more quickly than any of us would like. Too many innocent bystanders have become victims to someone else’s selfishness, and there is no one being held responsible for that.

For those of us that claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, and hold to His teachings found all through His Word (the Bible), this type of selfishness is not new. It is a worldly teaching that has existed as long as people. Adam and Even decided they wanted to have something bad enough to go against God to get it. King David wanted someone else’s wife, so he took it. The Pharisees wanted their traditions and laws so much that they missed the Messiah standing before them.

Jesus makes it simple: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

Love God, and Love Others. Doesn’t require a lot of complicated steps to remember this. BUT, it does not make it easy. Loving God and others requires putting aside selfishness, and that can prove to be difficult. BUT, if we at least lean towards trying hard to do this, I believe that could be a huge turning point in our world. It’s asking a great deal of people who do not choose to follow Christ, but if those that do claim Christ would shake off this worldly behavior and live more selflessly, we would make a greater impact than we know, and then maybe the wind-up cars would be more careful. Maybe then I wouldn’t mind the wind-up cars so much.