Yikes – two posts in a row springboarding off of LOST… If I were cool, I would have blogged all along. But my observations come after the show goes off the air. On the cutting edge, I am!
Tonight I stumbled across a note I wrote while watching Season 2, Episode 19, titled “S.O.S.” This one had some great themes, but the part I loved was a comment Bernard made to Mr. Eko.
First, some background:
Bernard wanted off the island. He was sick of it and wanted to go home, but all around him he saw people who had come to grips with the fact that this was likely their home now. The prior season had seen two failed attempts to escape via homemade rafts. Bernard vowed this would not be the end. There had to be another way to be saved. He proposed they make a giant “S.O.S.” in the sand so it could be seen by a passing plane. When he couldn’t enlist enough help to construct the sign, out of frustration he made the comment, “Everyone on this island is building something instead of trying to get rescued.“
That line really struck me at the time, and it led me to a few observations about real life:
- The failed raft escapes seemed to reinforce the notion that, although pursuing rescue from our LOST-ness is a noble endeavor, the fact remains that we cannot save ourselves.
- The church that Eko and Charlie were building seemed like a good idea at the time. Perhaps Eko was building it to replace his brother’s church that he desecrated. I wonder if he felt he could save himself by doing good works, including making penance for his past screwups. But good works don’t save us – and they are truly good only if done as a response to God’s grace, rather than an attempt to earn it.
- The rest of the island seemed to be quite content to settle in. They had given up on being rescued. They came to believe that either there was no one out there who could save them, or island life wasn’t so bad after all. It seems that most of us are content with the status quo, and are oblivious to the fact that we even need saving!
Although he was a horrible leader, Bernard knew that we all need someone to Save Our Souls, and he set out on a mission to seek that salvation from above. His attempt failed very shortly after it began. Does ours go any better?
He rightly observed that everyone on this island (planet) is building something. What are you building? And why are you building it?
If we are building perishable monuments to ourselves and do not realize that we are in need of a savior, our lives ultimately serve no useful purpose.
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