Monday, December 13, 2010

The Result of watching too much LOST

So because certain people have been pressuring me to watch a certain show and have succeeded in making me watch it, I have been inspired to make a few connections from it to life in Romania. Lost, a show about people deserted on a mysterious island after a plane crash focuses on the survivor’s stories and how they tie into the events that are taking place on the island. As the characters go through challenges on the island each one offers something to the group and they have to work together to use their talents and overcome their weaknesses to help each other survive. After the first few episodes Zach insisted we be paired with character we identified with in the show, but as soon as he decided this he began assigning ones to us himself. As well as all of the characters having their distinct personality traits each one has a major character flaw meaning all of them have a dark side that they each have to try and overcome. As the show continues the characters become more complex. With all this in mind both Zach and Tad gave us each characters because they had seen the entire show. I am sorry to all those who have not seen or heard about Lost for you will probably not understand what I will be making to references to and I will understand if you just stop reading here. If you know who the characters are then you will understand a little bit better but here is who we got stuck with- Kelly as Kate, Marit as Hurley, Zach as Charlie, and Tad as Sayid. At first I was paired with Sawyer because
Kelly and Marit Zach Tad and Julie Tad and Zach
Zach heard that I agreed with Sawyer about not trusting anyone on the island but because I refused to acknowledge that we had been paired and I loathed his character Zach became frustrated that I rejected Sawyer and decided I was Ana Lucia instead though he did not really explain why. Just thought I would show you how obsessed the boys really were with the show and how much of their addiction they passed on to us girls.
Sawyer Ana Lucia
So onto the connections, as the people have done their best to survive on the island through kidnappings, cave collapses, polar bears, creepy “others” and etc. they have had to go through many tough and trying challenges just as we have had to in Romania. Through having to attend sometimes philosophic classes, help in our IMPACT clubs, spend time with our host families and each other and try to communicate in a different language in order to assimilate into Romanian culture we have also had to overcome many challenges to survive. As the characters combat several different catastrophes they and their fellow survivors learn more about themselves and each other coming to understand how to live on an island and the support and life skills you need to be able to do so. In a sense Romania was an island for all of us American students, we could not just leave and go home we had to stick it out until the day came and we were rescued. Though unlike the island survivors for some of us rescuing felt funny and a couple of us were like “No! This is my island home that I have come to love” or something like that because we had come to love the people on the island and the island itself through the lessons gained and challenges we overcame.
My last connection is more of my own personal one. As the story progresses two of the characters happen upon a sealed metal hatch in the woods and to prevent panic do not share their find till the life of one of them is in jeopardy. His last words lead to the discovery of the hatch and before the secret gets out, the two people go back day after day obsessed in opening it. When I arrived in Romania I was filled with some hard questions that I had been pondering for a while, hoping that a few would be answered in Romania. Every day as we woke up in a different country I became obsessed throwing everything I had at it like Locke and going back over and over asking God if anything would ever be revealed. I did open the hatch like Locke and like him all I found was more questions. But in opening that hatch I learned a valuable lesson as well that though I may question God he will never turn away or get irritated that I am pestering him because he is a patient God who will in his own time answer me. When I think about the other lesson I learned I am reminded of the time when in one of the episodes Locke keeps asking Jack to believe and trust that he was brought there for a reason. Because in the same way I have to accept that God led me to Romania for a reason and though I do not know what is going to come next I believe that God knows and has it under his control.

1 comment:

Kadie said...

Julie, this is incredible writing! I like especially "In a sense Romania was an island for all of us American students, we could not just leave and go home we had to stick it out until the day came and we were rescued. Though unlike the island survivors for some of us rescuing felt funny and a couple of us were like “No! This is my island home that I have come to love"" and the last connection you made about opening the hatch only to find more questions. Remember Rilke... live the questions. You are precious Julie, absolutely 100% precious.