Don't play with it

So at the end of every episode I have a compulsion to write an elaborate post about the life lessons learnt via viewing, but then I get tired and distracted and... fall asleep.

So before my bed catches me, I shall post quick and run.

The last episode I watched was "High & Dry" Epi. 4, Season 3. There were many themes happening in this episode like forgiveness, self-confidence/believing in yourself, etc but the one that stood out most to me was the irony of religion with a sub-theme of friendship and betrayal.

In the show, the essential plot revolves around the lives of the Cartright brother and sister - Casey and Rusty. Casey is the cool sorority chick and Rusty is the geeky, lanky little brother who wants (and now is) to be in a fraternity and be more like his sister.

Rusty is in the AP Honors Science department of the school... which means he's considered to be so smart they have dorms assigned for these like-grade/minded kids. His roommate Dale is a firm Christian who does everything through Jesus Christ and was heading the purity pledge community of the school.

SO.. Dale ended up losing his virginity a few episodes back, completely regrets it and he's overwhelmed with guilt to the point where he and "JC" aren't "down" at the moment.

Rusty, with his hectic social life at the Frat house made a poor decision which dropped his grade in Organic Chemistry to a D. His first D ever, and the lowest in the class. He worked overtime with the Prof to see if he could do extra and brought the grade up to a C. Through conversation with Dale, he decides he wants to do a project so as to be known for more than his single D grade. Mind you, he scored higher grades than Dale all-round effortlessly to get into the Honors department and such.

They go to this Professor book signing gathering. Rusty's on the prowl to find a Professor willing to sponsor his project with the help of Dale. Dale essentially warns him away from all the Professors Rusty queries about, especially the Professor that wrote the book who the book signing event is for. Dale "brb" him with the promise of coming back to help...Eventually Rusty summons up the courage and decides he's going to try on his own anyways, approaches the book-signing Prof. and starts to pitch his idea. The Prof is all for it except for one problem - he already green lighted one brilliant student already, he's never heard of Rusty before, he offers Rusty a position to help the guy with his project and the only other glitch is that the person is an athiest.

Who is this guy? No other than his best buddy Dale. Naturally Rusty is peeved. His Frat. big brother runs intervention and reminds Rusty that one of the commandments of the the frat house is to "never let conquest get in the way of friendship." Rusty forgives him. Dale barely offers much of an apology, if to call his utterances such.

In the end, Rusty approaches his Prof that helped him improve his midterm grade and the Prof finally caved and decided to sponsor him.

What I thought was ironic was that Dale is the Christian ambassador on the show. He's human as well... But the show represented real life situations where regardless of your religion, backgrounds, etc. people would still screw you over, backstab you, slit your throat or undermine you in a heartbeat if it means having their way or suits their purposes. If the situation was reversed, considering the necessity of the project for Rusty, was Dale in need, Rusty would not have done the same thing Dale did to him. Dale even lied about his religious beliefs to score the position... I mean, what he did was wrong on so many different levels...

But in the end, he proved to be just as bad as that which he condemns (the Greek frat/sor. system)... And the same Frat guys seem to be more respectable in that situation just by the maturity of how it was handled, if not anything else.

I dunno... it was very poignant to me. Perhaps because I'm not particularly religious but I'm constantly surrounded by religious people who seem to be God's worst ambassadors for trying to convert me. That scene between Dale and Rusty is just testimony of a real life situation that just proves it's not so much about religion or which God you believe in...

Certain things just have to come from the inside... it's inherent within your being. If you have good values and an overall sense of goodness, there's just certain things you just won't do. And you won't rationalize your way out of it, and even if you did, you'd reconcile you were wrong. You can't fake sincerely being a good friend, nor can you fake acting selfishly to serve your own purposes.

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Shelli out