Looks are important and no t.v. program presents the extreme end of the “Looks spectrum” so well as does the Discovery Health Channel. This is where, from the comfort of your couch, you can voyeuristically watch the obese, disfigured and diseased wrestle with their heartbreaking challenges.
I am addicted to these programs. My husband refers to them as the modern-day freak shows. Instead of going to the Springfield State Fair to see the fattest man alive, we can now cuddle up in our snuggies while eating corn-dogs, and witness the fattest man alive struggle as he attempts to get out of bed. Sure beats paying 50 cents to walk inside his tent and have a one-on-one with him, right?
Maybe the attraction is similar to that of Gaper’s block. In a ghoulish sort of way, I need, not just want, to see the tragedy while, at the same time, I’m silently praying “There but for the grace of God. . .“ Yet, maybe it’s more than just that. Seeing the “worse off” reinforces perspective. And, seeing the extremely worse off should indelibly fortify it. We can turn off the t.v. and sigh, “Well, I may be overweight, but at least I’m not 800 lbs.” It’s why t.v. shows like the Biggest Loser, and What Not to Wear are so wildly popular. We can feel good about ourselves just by comparison. The icing on the cake is when we see those ugly ducklings turn into beautiful swans. It means there’s hope for us, too!
Like many, I’m in constant need of perspective reinforcement. Wallowing in self-pity is a game I play quite well when the mood strikes. A member of the family sick? Woe is me. Lose my job? Woe is me. Getting old? More woe. Not enough money? Oh God, let’s bring on that bucket of woe. Seems there’s always an abundant supply of it.
Until I watch one of those programs. I see a child who was born without a face. I see a mother struggling with her daughter’s severe deformity. I see a man so ravaged by fibrous tumors that his face is no longer recognizable. I see his desperate family trying to help him. How much more perspective does it take? How much more tragedy do we have to second-handedly experience before we grasp the truer, deeper meaning of despair?
Oddly enough, it always takes more. You can never get enough perspective. While I’m watching the programs and feeling heartsick for the children and parents, I know that tomorrow I’ll be helping myself to another heeping bowl of woe-is-me soup.
Funny thing about perspective – it’s so temporary. Unless you’re glued to the t.v., watching one of these programs 24/7, you lose it. You return to focusing on your own perceived injustices just as easily as you turned off the remote control. Maybe you would like a better job; maybe you would like a prettier face; maybe you would like more friends and more financial security. Or, maybe the “mores” are better expressed in terms of “less” anxiety, stress, guilt, weight and wrinkles.
With the exception of a desire for good health & well-being of friends and family, I realize, whenever I’m watching one of these programs, that there isn’t a single desire I have that could possibly compare to a mother’s desire for her disfigured child to fit in, or at least not be ridiculed, or at best to be cured.
That’s perspective and I need to be reminded of it often. Thank you, Discovery Health Channel.
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