Inspire: The Human Factor

I'm writing today from a well documented treasure trove of information, insight, and condensed wisdom.  Many of you will be familiar with this beautiful gem, made long ago but with messages of hope, truth, and courage that still inspire to this day.

I'm talking, of course, about MacGyver (read ahead at your peril, spoilers for those who still don't own the series on DVD).

I watched an episode today with my roommate, specifically the opener to Season 2, The Human Factor.  And it's a hilarious retrospective on the culture of the times Lasers are used not once, but several times throughout the episode, forming barriers that will incinerate people, shooting from mobile robots, and yes, even shooting out of a security camera at one moment.  Luckily for our hero, these high tech "lasers" [insert quotes ala Dr. Evil], also seem to suffer from the storm trooper syndrome, that is, unable to hit anything further than six inches away, except plot devices.

But beyond the now cheesy 80-ish quality, there's one thing I love about MacGyver - it's one of the last shows where they tried to actually teach you something, supposedly on the assumption that the world would become a better place by watching more television.  There's a morality and a courage seldom seen on the modern screen.

This episode focused on MacGyver trying to break in to a government building to test their brand new, state of the art security system.  The catch?  There's no humans.  It's all controlled by a central computer, that apparently can learn and adapt.  Of course, the computer goes berserk, and starts trying to kill MacGyver and his beautiful female friend (who happens to be the scientist that designed the system and programmed the computer, and is trapped by it... irony, here we come).  

But I want to focus on a few almost overlooked lines that help bring out the central conflict in this episode:  Rationality (as characterized by the programmer and her computer) versus instinct (as characterized by MacGyver).  

Early on in the episode, MacGyver and the programmer face off, reciting each other's backgrounds... they've both done their homework and are now allowed to insert plot devices.  Mac Gyver mentions that the programmer took a year off for "personal reasons" before going into programming full time.  As the episode progresses, hints are made as to what happened, but it's never fully revealed.  

So I will now fully reveal it.  

In her year off, the programmer met a man.  A wonderful man.  Who moved her heart.  And then, horribly, horribly betrayed her in some fashion.  So she decided that  she would never trust her heart again.  She closed down - became rational, logical, and sought solace in the world of the computer... where there was no chance of betrayal (and she is ultimately betrayed by her own faulty programming, in the most subtle and greatest irony in the episode).  

This is where a lot of people are.  Some men, and a lot of women.  We tried trusting once, and it didn't work.  So we shut down.  Buried ourself in work, fantasy novels, close (but not too close) friends, machoism, sports, achievement...  anything we could try to numb the pain.  And none of it worked.  

I could talk about what that looks like, but you all know.  Everyone who's been in love knows, and if you haven't, I can't instruct you in a single blog post.  I want to focus instead on how we get out.

How did our intrepid rational woman get out?  Not by anything she did.  By being rescued.  It took MacGyver saving her life (repeated times) to restore her trust in people in general and males in particular.  Because the wound that is caused by a man... can only be healed by a man.  

So what does this mean for you and me?  Simple.  We need to make changes.  

Women:  Stop trying to fix it.  You can't.  Stop running.  Start crying, start forgiving, start loving God and others... live in that risky place... because if anyone is ever to love you, that's the part you want them to love.  

Men:  In three words, grow some balls.  Step up and be a man.  There are women out there that need someone they can trust - that will care for them and not betray them.  Be a man of honor, stay true to your word, fight for what is right, not what is easy.  Be quick to apologize and admit your mistakes, be truthful in everything.  

Is this too much to ask of one person?  Yes.  Is it a goal worth striving towards?  Of course.