Monday 25 June 2012

What Doctor Who Has Taught Me


So - I missed two blog posts. Yeah. *hangs head in shame* And with all the new lovely followers. On the subject of followers, new and old: guys, don't be shy, comments are one of my favourite things in the world. If any of you have something to say on the subjects of which I speak, I wanna know what you're thinking. Sometimes it feels like just me and Lostariel, lol. It's okay, though, I'm not pressuring anyone. It's all good! Really, it is.

What have I been doing? Well, on Wednesday, I started a blog post really late at night, but I made the mistake of starting to write about the Doctor Who episode "The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit" at midnight. I hate to admit it, but I just creeped myself out, so I went to bed. And then on Friday, I was in Seattle with my dad. We went on a road trip.

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'Kay.

All rise for the subject of today's post.

Worth. Doctor Who, if it's taught me one thing, has taught me this.
Worth.

See, the theme of Doctor Who is this. No matter where you're from, no matter who you are, no matter how broken or average or useless or mean or ugly, you mean something, you are special, and you could save the world.

Ugh, there are so many thoughts crowding in my head, I can't think. The thing is, Doctor Who is a light. It's secular, it slips in its dirty jokes and its moralism, but in the end, Doctor Who has important messages and even more important themes running subconsciously through it.
Yes, totally subconsciously. It is impossible to believe in evolution and carry that worldview all the way through - it is. See, the Doctor claims to believe in evolution. But then he is a completely contradictory character: if evolution is true, then survival of the fittest is also a truth, and what is the Doctor doing saving people, defending the earth when it's too weak to defend itself? The Doctor is practicing something that stems from God and God alone: he is self-sacrificing, giving of himself to save weak human beings (when he is clearly part of a superior race). You can't deny that the Doctor lives out a worldview different than the one he claims. Not just different: directly opposed. There is no way a consistent believer in evolution could look at a little chid with dyslexia, and, instead of writing him off as a deficient quirk of nature when the kid admits this problem, bend down to his level, and say warmly, "Oh, that's okay, I can't make a decent meringue."

And in living this out, the Doctor has taught me worth.

That people are worth it, and that the monsters are worth it.

D'you ever just see someone - someone who's just doing nothing, not impacting anything in any visible way, sitting on their couch, doing their routine - and do you ever just feel contempt for them? Like they're not worth it? Like, "So, what are you doing for the world?" Of course, it's silly, because really, what difference am I making right now? But that was me - and is me. I tell you, though, it got so much less when the Doctor took my hand and showed me. Showed me that a temp worker can be the most important woman in the universe, that a medical student can rock the cosmos, that an unemployed teenager can make all the difference in the world.
"You don't have to own the universe, just see it."
The Doctor showed me, with that line, and with his life, that it's nice to be big and grand, but you don't have to own the universe. You can just be a normal person, just seeing it. That the "just seeing it" people are impacting things in their own way. That they're all made in the same image, and that is a Holy image.


"You and I both know, don't we Rose - the Doctor is worth the monsters."
Yes, he is, a thousand times, and so is life. Life is worth the monsters. And so we see written in the Bible. Romans 8:18 says "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." The darkness, it doesn't last, and it's pushing through it, resisting it, that brings the reward.


So, yes, that's what God has shown me through Doctor Who.

2 comments:

  1. Yes, yes, yes! This is what I've been telling people for three years now! Doctor Who is based on an evolutionary worldview, but it's not consistent. It shows so much grace and even, dare I say it, godliness. The sanctity of life. Every person counts.

    On an unrelated note, the next chapter of Out of Time is up. Tell me what you think!
    http://www.apricotpie.com/anna/out-time-seven

    ReplyDelete