ABC's LOST: According to me (LIFE, LOVE & DEATH)

If you have not at least heard someone mention or have read at least a headline about ABC's LOST, then you were probably hiding under a rock for the past six years. The final episode of LOST was last night. To me, it was just as big, if not bigger, than the Super Bowl and in my house the Super Bowl is a HUGE deal. This was a show that posed some very interesting questions from the very beginning. The pilot episode that aired six years ago had many people at the edge of their seats. It left people wondering and questioning where the writers were going with this new show but most of all, the show (well, the writers) had the audience craving answers. I remember watching the pilot and immediately thinking that there had to be dinosaurs on the island only to find out eventually that dinosaurs had nothing to do with it.

If you have had a chance to take a peek at the plethora of LOST forums that exist in the internet, you would have been able to see that the majority of people simply wanted answers. The frustration was (and is) evident in many posts. Some people threatened to discontinue watching the show early on only to find themselves watching it again to see if they would obtain the answers to their questions in the following episodes. Some of those same people eventually found themselves watching the show for six years. If you ask me, I would say that the writers did a great job keeping people in tuned even if the finale was not what some anticipated it to be. I think it would have been too easy to simply provide answers to the many questions that the viewers have. Leaving some things to the imagination broadens the idea that this could actually be how our very own lives play out, not necessarily exactly as the show's storyline with a plane crash but with something of tremendous magnitude happening to get our attention and us being on a quest to find redemption and closure, whether it be inspired by the birth of a child, the death of a loved one or our very own death.

Why do some viewers demand to know all the answers to the questions about LOST ? ? ? We do not know all the answers about life. Yet, we expect the show to lose some of its value by providing us with specific answers about things that took place on and off the island ?? Looking at the bigger picture, those things/questions obviously, as many things in our own lives, serve little purpose and have little value. We just give those things too much value and that is where we go wrong. That is why we miss the target in our lives. We neglect what truly matters and we put too much focus on what does not matter. We expect a specific outcome and when we do not get it we want to belittle and throw away all the memories and influential moments that occurred in our lives, whether good or bad. Why is it so easy to do that and so difficult to accept the choices we have made or to deal with the situations that we have endured in our lives ? Are we not who we are today because of what he have experienced ? Have we no goals for ourselves ? Do we not anticipate to grow spiritually in order to truly know what our purpose is ?

In short, LOST begins with a plane crash that leaves survivors on an island in the Pacific.  The main characters are people that have had very difficult lives prior to being stranded on the island and are tainted in one way or another (Aren't we all tainted ? Haven't we all had struggles ? It's relatable). These people go through struggles on (and off) the island that have them questioning their own existence and their purposes in life. The show gives the audience a glimpse into the lives of some of the characters prior to the crash and even provides the "what could have been" version. The finale touched on the idea of an afterlife without focusing solely on one belief or religion. I believe that the writers wanted to take the ideas that refer to life, love and death that are common in many religions and put them in a universal manner that would touch a larger audience giving them the opportunity to draw up their own conclusions according to their beliefs. Yet, somehow, I believe it was the same message for everyone.

I cannot speak about the finale without expressing how touching and moving it was. LOST was about redemption, forgiveness, love, second chances, life, and death just to name a few. It gave me much to think and reflect about. Are there things in our lives that make it difficult for us to move on , in this life and in the next life ? I do not think that we truly grasp the magnitude of influence that we may have on other people or that other people may have on us. Death is inevitable. We all must come face to face with it at one point in our lives. Have we done all that we could to mend broken relationships in our lives ? Have we forgiven everyone that has hurt us ? Have we asked for forgiveness from those we have hurt ? And do we even want to be forgiven ? Sometimes we are way too hard on ourselves and in doing so, we waste the talents that we have; our talents become dormant. If we do not feel worthy of redemption, we may eventually begin to starve our souls by not allowing grace inside and that is bad. Are the false ideas that we have created for ourselves not allowing us to progress or are they keeping us from growing and moving forward by having us remain in a "false" world that we have created for ourselves ? Have we forgiven ourselves ?! We forget sometimes that it is ok to change our minds. Simply because we did something that was morally wrong or unlawful at one point in our lives does not mean that we need to continue on that path. It is not necessary to be consistent when it comes to our failures. We have the choice to change for the better, to make a difference and to redeem ourselves.

The key to this is LOVE. If we do not love ourselves then we will not care about the effects that we have on others and ourselves. When love no longer sits on the throne of your heart, a darkness befalls your heart and soul that will not stop growing unless you are stopped (as was the case with M.I.B.). Sometimes we are put in situations that we do not choose but later we have the option to change and make things better. If we neglect to truly love then we neglect to remember all the good things that we experienced in our lives that may not only encourage us to move forward during difficult times but may also be beneficial to others. When we love and make sacrifices for those we love, we can expect that love to continue to grow and to give birth to wonderful experiences and memories that will remain with us forever.

If we cannot rise above our struggles and overlook the faults of others, overlook our own faults and learn to make things better for ourselves and the world overall, we will find ourselves in a dark place. We'll be ... LOST.

Dr. Jack Shephard said it best when he said :

"If we can't live together, we're going to die alone" ~~ ♥ ♥ ♥