Like many people tonight, I was looking forward to watching the season finale of "Survivor." For the past few seasons, the show has become a sort of Mommy and Emma time. We watch it together...cheer on our favorites...enjoy the talk of the game...and hold onto a shared moment each week. What started out as simply another reality TV show for me that I enjoyed watching....has turned into an hour a week that I get to share with my daughter. An hour away from diabetes. An hour away from the day to day stresses. Just an hour a week that is guaranteed time for her and I to sit on the couch together and just be together.
We had been talking about tonight's episode all week...looking forward to it...discussing who we thought would win in the end. As time rolled around and we expected it to begin, we were disappointed to find out it was delayed....first because of a prior football game......and then due to the President speaking at the memorial service for the tragedy that occured in Connecticut.
As a parent of an 8 yr old, I decided to turn the channel. I did not want to have my daughter watch the speech. I don't know if that was the right decision or not....but it was the decision I made.
I went on Facebook and decided to check out the Survivor page on there to see what time the finale was due to begin so I would know when to turn the channel back on. What I saw at that point was disheartening to say the least. I read comment after comment from people....Americans, Canadians, people all over the world. The overwhelming majority of the comments were people complaining about the President being on....complaining about their tv show being delayed...complaining. Some stating how they didn't want to see Obama on the screen...the election was over...what was he trying to prove by speaking there. Some stating how they didn't give a shit about what happened in Connecticut...they just wanted to see their tv show. Some stating that it didn't happen to their kids...it didn't happen in their town...it didn't affect them personally...so who cares...just put Survivor on. Some stating that they were Canadian and it wasn't THEIR President on the screen...it wasn't THEIR country that was affected by this devastating occurance....so just put Survivor on for the Canadians at least. Some stating that they were so sick of seeing this tragedy plastered all over the news...all over the tv channels...all over the internet....enough already...just get on with things.
To read those comments felt like a knife through my heart. To read the hateful...selfish...mean spirited words that people wrote....ahhh it was probably one of the most disappointing things I have seen in a long time. To know that the majority of these people cared more about seeing the finale of a reality tv show...and whether or not they were going to miss the beginning of it...and how they would have to DVR it and watch it tomorrow........as opposed to having enough compassion...enough respect...enough human decency to be patient...let this speech occur...let these families of the victims heal...let the WORLD heal..........honestly, it made me want to vomit. To know that the overwhelming majority of these people thought these things...and are obviously incapable of seeing past the end of their nose......it made me fear the future that my daughter is destined to grow up in. I found it sickening.
I hope that what I saw and what I read was not how the rest of the world felt. I hope that this was just a group of selfish...mean...heartless individuals. I hope that everyone else cares enough to teach their children to have compassion. I hope that everyone else cares enough about each other to see that a reality tv show pales in comparison to the tragic realities of the world. I hope.
I witnessed an ugly display of human behaviour tonight....and I hope that people can take a moment to look outside of their living rooms and see that if we don't start caring for one another and having compassion...that the world will never change...it will only become worse.
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