again with the emotions
So, Law and Order SVU makes me cry ... well actually it is usually some sort of connection with a character or situational viewpoint that does the trick, but you get the gist of it.
Case in point: Season 2 Episode 4, here's the wikipedia info:
Legacy :: An abused 7-year-old girl lays comatose as the detectives investigate members of her dysfunctional family to determine the source of the abuse, in a case that hits close to home for Munch.
Now basically, there's not a lot about this case that hits home for me. My sister wasn't abused. I wasn't abused. I haven't got a lot of experience with comatose scenarios ... but there's something in the religiousity of Det. Munch's Judaism that does the 'trick' so to speak. While discussing the case, someone mentions the girl's newly experienced, albeit unfortunate, safety in her comatose scenario within the hospital's confines. Munch buys a stuffed animal, goes and sits it next to her hospital bed.
There's not a lot of Judaism present there, some would argue there's none present there. I think there's a sense of good human decency, which I think flows through this character's religiosity. I guess, I'm envious of having the opportunities to allow personal religiosity to flow into the 'valleys' of the real world.
There's a decent prayer ministry here on campus. It's not super dooper by any means, but it is decent. Now .. Sarah and I are rather invovled in putting together a prayer service here. Sometimes people mention that this service is a good thing, a healing thing, something that bolsters their spirit and renews their hope. Other times, it almost feels like we're going through the motions. I guess, the thing I realized is that I want/need opportunities to feel like genuine love and ultimate concern is needed in a situation and that I am honestly, genuinely helping to provide that love and concern through prayer.
Last year, there were some moments where the prayer life of the campus felt genuine. It felt like I knew the needs of those around me, friends and strangers, and I could in some small way help to alleviate those needs. Lately, it feels like I am out of touch. I don't know if the fault (if you could put it in those terms), lies with others for not presenting their needs or with myself for not offering a welcoming atmosphere for such a conversation of confidence. Sermons I write, thoughts I have, readings I choose, prayers I pray ... they all seem to be hollow.
I feel like a hypocrite. I don't know why. It's not because I'm out of touch with the healing power of the gospel. I know it. I remember it. I cherish it. I guess it's because ... I feel like others are out of the gospel's touch, that is to say that I feel like they are unreachable. I don't know how to extend enough to bridge that gap.
Watching this episode, I found myself wanting to be surrounded by pain and sorrow ... it sounds messed up ... but I want to feel like there is a need for anythign I can offer, and that any offering I present will be accepted. Lately it feels like my offerings are really needed or wanted ... and that kinda stinks.
Episode Quotes:
Case in point: Season 2 Episode 4, here's the wikipedia info:
Legacy :: An abused 7-year-old girl lays comatose as the detectives investigate members of her dysfunctional family to determine the source of the abuse, in a case that hits close to home for Munch.
Now basically, there's not a lot about this case that hits home for me. My sister wasn't abused. I wasn't abused. I haven't got a lot of experience with comatose scenarios ... but there's something in the religiousity of Det. Munch's Judaism that does the 'trick' so to speak. While discussing the case, someone mentions the girl's newly experienced, albeit unfortunate, safety in her comatose scenario within the hospital's confines. Munch buys a stuffed animal, goes and sits it next to her hospital bed.
There's not a lot of Judaism present there, some would argue there's none present there. I think there's a sense of good human decency, which I think flows through this character's religiosity. I guess, I'm envious of having the opportunities to allow personal religiosity to flow into the 'valleys' of the real world.
There's a decent prayer ministry here on campus. It's not super dooper by any means, but it is decent. Now .. Sarah and I are rather invovled in putting together a prayer service here. Sometimes people mention that this service is a good thing, a healing thing, something that bolsters their spirit and renews their hope. Other times, it almost feels like we're going through the motions. I guess, the thing I realized is that I want/need opportunities to feel like genuine love and ultimate concern is needed in a situation and that I am honestly, genuinely helping to provide that love and concern through prayer.
Last year, there were some moments where the prayer life of the campus felt genuine. It felt like I knew the needs of those around me, friends and strangers, and I could in some small way help to alleviate those needs. Lately, it feels like I am out of touch. I don't know if the fault (if you could put it in those terms), lies with others for not presenting their needs or with myself for not offering a welcoming atmosphere for such a conversation of confidence. Sermons I write, thoughts I have, readings I choose, prayers I pray ... they all seem to be hollow.
I feel like a hypocrite. I don't know why. It's not because I'm out of touch with the healing power of the gospel. I know it. I remember it. I cherish it. I guess it's because ... I feel like others are out of the gospel's touch, that is to say that I feel like they are unreachable. I don't know how to extend enough to bridge that gap.
Watching this episode, I found myself wanting to be surrounded by pain and sorrow ... it sounds messed up ... but I want to feel like there is a need for anythign I can offer, and that any offering I present will be accepted. Lately it feels like my offerings are really needed or wanted ... and that kinda stinks.
Episode Quotes:
- If I have any kids, I'm gonna have to call 'em munchkins.
- In the end she's just wrapping herself in the warm cloak of victimhood.
- Olivia: You took a chance with that bluff of Emily coming out of her coma. I'm not sure what we would’ve done if Jamie had pressed to see her.
Munch: She didn’t care about the kids.
Olivia: How’d you know?
Munch: When we searched her house, I looked at that 4 year old. Flashed to a little girl that used to live across the street from us in our neighborhood, in lower East Side. She had that same look in her eyes.
Olivia: What look?
Munch: Sad, lost. She used to stand on her porch every afternoon when I came home from school. Like she was waiting for me. Sometimes she'd have a black eye or a bloody lip. Never said anything to me, just looked at me like she was trying to tell me something. But I was too full of my own teenage crap to pay any attention. One day I came home-she wasn’t there. Found out her mother threw her through a plate glass window. Went to the funeral… saw her dad. It was the first time I saw a grown man cry.
Olivia: What happened to her mother?
Munch: They sent her to an insanitarium. She told my mother, she didn’t understand what all the fuss was about; she was the one that had to get a new window…. Months later I’d come home and-I’d look up at the porch. I swear I saw that little girl standing there, looking at me with that look. I almost let her down again. - Munch: ..But on you will go, though the weather be foul, on you will go though your enemies prowl. on you will go though the hakken-kraks howl, onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. on and on you will hike, and i know you'll hike far, and face up to your problems, whatever they are.