“The Fine Print”, by M.H. Schrader
“The Element” Is Closer Than You Think!
(Published 5 February 1997 in the Neighborhood
Journal. Posted in toto 1 October
2002.)
Compared to other people I know, I am not a TV junkie.
I have friends, both single and married, whose lives revolve around
the infernal set. They eat in front
of the set. They drink in front of
the set. They schedule their time
around their TV programs.
Now I will be the first one to admit that at one time,
I, too, was a TV junkie. But, that
was before. I firmly believe that
the amount of time available to watch TV is inversely related to the number
of children you have. Once child
number three was born, my available free time went to about zilch.
Of course, longtime readers have heard this all before.
(Am I quitting again? Hardly.
After all, somebody has to take up the slack in Johnny Dollar’s absence.)
I do, however, manage to watch four hours of TV a
week. Of course, having a VCR is
a big help, as I don’t necessarily have to watch them when the networks tell
me I should. These four hours, interestingly
enough, are the four programs that I watch religiously, and since they come
on during bathtime, I watch them a little later, after the kids have gone
to bed. And, since three of them
are rather intense, it’s better that children not watch these programs, anyway.
(This is what I call the “P”, for parent, chip.)
My four favorite programs are “Early Edition”, “ER”,
“The X-Files”, and “Millennium”.
The first two are rather non-controversial; the latter two are not.
Especially “Millennium”.
Which is quite a shame, actually, as “Millennium” is a gripping drama which
allows us to peek at the dark sides of our souls.
Although the show has been panned as having too dark of a vision,
the situations in most of the episodes can easily be correlated to situations
in real life. And that is what make
the show so scary --it is a reflection of ourselves.
The reason why I bring this show up is because of
one of those direct correlations.
An episode a few weeks ago was about the murder and kidnapping of several
teenage boys. The kicker was where
these crimes occurred--within an idyllic community composed entirely of white
upper-class families. This community
was so exclusive that it had a wall around it with gates, so that only those
“chosen” could come in. Throughout
the episode, it was mentioned that crime is not supposed to happen in this
type of community, that this is the type of community people move to from
the big city to keep their children safe.
Crime doesn’t happen to the white elite.
As it turns out, the killer not only lived in the
community, but was the president of the neighborhood association.
Another fine “Millennium” morality play--evil can exist in anyone,
so don’t assume and stereotype.
I bring this up because it correlates to some things
said by some of the citizens of Maumelle.
It seems that these citizens want to keep their city “elite”, and
do not want houses built that the average middle class family can afford.
Why is that? The fear of
crime. They don’t want the wrong “element”
to move in. Which of course, means
me and most other decent hardworking people I know.
Apparently, wealth makes a person moral, which is an oxymoron in
and of itself, as some people acquire their wealth by questionable means.
Oh well, it doesn’t matter how you got it, as long as you’ve got
it, right?
It’s not just in Maumelle, though, that people are
discriminated against based on some foolish stereotype of being of the wrong
“element.” Although we hate to admit
it, racism is still pervasive throughout the country, even though a majority
of black folks are good, decent, God-fearing people just like the majority
of white folks. But yet there’s an
attitude that the color of one’s skin determines whether or not one will
be a criminal.
But, it’s not all based on race.
Look at all the anti-trailer ordinances in cities, big and small,
throughout the country. Just because
someone lives in a trailer does not make him the dredge of society.
I’ve known many people who have lived in trailers and mobile homes--good
people. Moral people.
Caring people. Most of
these people lived in trailers out of financial necessity--it’s all that
they could afford, and at least they owned it.
Although the equity in a trailer is not a lot, it’s still more than
the equity you have when you rent an apartment, which is zero.
Yes, I will admit there
are some trashy people who live in trailers.
Undesirables. But, there
are also a lot of trashy homeowners, too.
But somehow we overlook them, because they are “pillars of the community”
or some other line that we use to delude ourselves because the truth is much
too painful to face. I know of a
lady in one of the big new expensive houses in West Little Rock who had to
move because her neighbors were lowlifes (albeit wealthy ones) who had nothing
better to do then harass the poor woman.
I think that the thing that is the saddest about this
whole “element” thing is that we seem to be missing the whole point of what
we have been taught in the New Testament.
If Jesus were to appear as a human being today, would we welcome
him into our home? Or, would we protest
against him and those like him as being of the wrong “element”?
After all, he had long hair, a beard, was a lowly carpenter, and,
for the most part, a drifter. Or,
would we call the police on the hippie freak and have him escorted out of
town (like they did to John Rambo in “First Blood”)?
I think the next time I start to worry about the “element”,
I will pop a tape in the VCR and watch “Millennium” just to remind myself
that evil knows no bounds.
