THIS USED TO BE MY PLAYGROUND

Let me share with you a sly little secret: my husband detests most reality shows. Oh, not all. “Dancing with the Stars” is fine, and “Amazing Race” passes the test, assuming the participants are not digesting too many of those odious, indigenous foods. “The Apprentice” and “The Biggest Loser,” well, they sometimes fail to maintain his attention, but both have their wholesome moments. And truthfully, “The Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” are not reality; they are only fantasized escapes from reality (which can be quite enjoyable at times if you are longing to DENY the world we live in...).

My husband does not care for shows that do 2 things: (1) manipulate people’s feelings, and (2) return us to the elementary school, kickball playground...

“Pick me! Pick me!”

“No, I should be first!”

“No, no... I play the best at short.”

“Well, whatever you do, certainly don’t pick him! He’s too fat and too slow. He’d bring our entire team down.”

“Of course, I won’t pick him. I don’t want to be seen with any of the wrong people. I want to be cool.”

“I’m cool. Pick me!”

CBS’s “Survivor” has an interesting, “elementary” flavor, if you will. In fact, this so-called reality slice originated in 1997 on Swedish television, and now attracts a loyal, global audience. In Austria and Germany, it is termed “Expedition Robinson”; in Russia, it is “Last Hero”; and in Venezuela, they call it, “Robinson: La Gran Aventura.”

Did you see the “Survivor” episode a few years ago where at its onset, 18 people arrived on a remote island, and immediately, with minimal, previous interaction, 1 was voted off? I wonder how it felt to be that 1. This was not the playground; these were adults... adults who assumed they were capable of judging someone’s strengths, weaknesses, team benefit, and even their heart - based on looks and first impressions.

But we would never do that, right?

We would never judge a person based on looks and first impression. I could suggest that we do not judge based on the color of skin, but because thankfully fewer are racist, we sometimes negate personal application on this teaching - forgetting that we actually still might judge another by something else... by their weight, by their athletic ability, by their accent, by their political standing, by their wealth, by their faith... or lack of it. We would never judge their heart. Let me be clear on the meaning of judgment. Judgment in regard to a consequence rendered for wrongful behavior is appropriate. Judgment in its colloquial definition of looking down on someone is not.

But we would never do that, right?

AR