Over the Fence: Seen Any Good Shows?

By Brandon Dyer, Executive Director of Community Renewal of Pottawatomie County

“Have you watched any good shows lately?” How often do you hear this question? My answer is “often.”

I love hearing about a new TV show a friend is watching and giving it a try. Unfortunately, that show better nail its tryout with me, or I’m on to the next one. It’s true. I’m guilty of not giving a show enough time before I pull the ripcord and eject. Perhaps I need to be reminded not to judge a show by its first 5 minutes?

That was the case with a show my wife and I were recently watching. It’s sort of a “whodunnit” about a criminal profiler whose father – formerly a world renowned surgeon – happened to also be a convicted serial killer. With each case in which detectives brought him in to profile a suspect, flashes from his past would surface, forcing him to work out his own childhood trauma in his troubled mind. I loved the premise, but the production quality and acting just weren’t cutting it for me. So, I half-heartedly watched alongside my wife throwing in an occasional eye roll while I scanned the interwebs for something else. I know. Don’t judge me.

There was, however, one episode that caught my attention. The serial killer father was being interviewed for a news story. At the same time, a mentally unstable convict escaped, ran to the interview room and stabbed the cameraman. As he laid seriously wounded on the floor with paramedics unable to reach them, a decision had to be made. Would they let this man die, or would they risk handing the serial-killer-surgeon a scalpel in order to save this man’s life? They chose the latter, he performed a procedure and the cameraman survived. Now the show had me.

In just a few moments, the writers posed what was to me a very thought provoking question, albeit an extreme example.

Do human beings still possess value after their transgressions?

As a general principle, I’d like to think that most people would answer yes. It’s a question about redemption after all, and none of us would be where we are if we hadn’t been afforded such opportunities along the way.

I have a fundamental, core belief that all human beings possess intrinsic value regardless of their utility or function in society regardless of who they are or what they have done. This is not the same as saying I get along with all people all the time or that every person is safe. We all know that’s not true. This is not pie in the sky, rainbows and unicorns talk. It just means that everyone is worth it, and we would bring more value to our lives if we took the time to notice that same value in each other.

Certainly, there are extreme cases and unhealthy relationships which require a very real and different response. However, I am advocating for a way of being. A way of seeing each other equal as a collection. Imagine what sort of good we could create together if we chose to see the intrinsic value in each other first, before we recognized differences.

In the song “Invisible” by U2, there is a beautiful refrain sung over and over, especially in live versions.

“There is no them, there is no them, there’s only us, there’s only us.”

As long as we see our neighbor as “them,” we can never love our neighbor as ourselves.

Brandon Dyer

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