When Everything is Stripped Away …

Image courtesy of Creative Alley Productions.

I just watched the most interesting episode of Cold Case ever - The Road aired on 6th April 2008. It’s so thought provoking that I can’t help to blog about it.

For those of you who are not familiar about this TV show, Cold Case is about a team of law enforcers who focuses on cases that are unsolved (and hence it’s given the term “cold”). Based on current leads and clues, they’ll try to reopen the case and by any means, solving it.

The latest episode is about a woman, Brenda, who was found missing (and believed was dead based on the evidence found) on the day of her engagement party. You can’t describe how devastated her fiancé was. What other state of mind can he be in anyway? After almost a year, he still couldn’t move on.

Then, they found the suspect and their purpose is hopefully to recover the body of Brenda. So, 2 police officers were trying their best in interrogating him in the hope to find more clues to find where Brenda’s body will be.

What I enjoy the most from the “interrogation” part is that the suspect was proposing such thought provoking questions that were even able to shake up the detectives' minds. Some questions make them think and reflect about their own lives, some agitated one of the detective to actually be more physical towards the suspect.

Anyway, to sum up the story (BEWARE, spoilers ahead), the villain is a home-video editor. He’s one of the best employees any company has ever had. He has been selecting his victims based on the home-videos he edited. The common thread that he chose from the victims is when he spotted that the victim had one thing to live for . For example,there's a choir girl whose life purpose is to serve God. Then there's a mother who adores her new-born daughter so much. And Brenda, who loved her fiancé so much that she proposed to him instead.

They all live for something, and the question that the villain asked that was really important was - what keeps you going? What makes you get off your bed every morning? When everything is stripped away, when what matters most of you are taken away from you, who will you be? Will you give up on life?

That's what he's curious about from all of his victims. There's not once he laid hands to his victims, he just locked all of them in a "dungeon" and observe how long they take to give up when everything is stripped away. He mentioned, the choir girl was the first one to give up on her life after wondering how can God did such cruel thing upon her and why God left her and didn't even exist in that dungeon.

How about the mother, you think? She had the passion to live especially when the villain was playing the video of her new-born baby again and again but when the monitor was taken away from her, that's when she lost it. She gave up on life completely. Even though the door was easily opened if she tried and he (the villain) will not even do anything to them, none of these girls bothered to try to "live" and escape anymore. How interesting can that be?

This episode really makes me think, what am I living for? "I don't know"

When everything is really stripped away from me ... will I give up on life? "I don't know"

Who am I beneath the job I'm holding, the possessions I'm having and the knowledge I'm acquiring? "I don't know"

But for sure, I believe anybody who's reading this are more than what you think you are. You are not your job. You are not your spouse. You are not your religion. You are not you family. You are not your mom. You are not your dad. You are not your siblings. You are not what you eat. You are not what other people say about you. You are not your career. You are not your car. You are not your house. You are not your knowledge. You are not your aspirations. You are not your wealth. You are not your bank account. You are not your fashion statement. You are not the people you are hanging out with. You are not where you live. You are not what you say. You are not your opinion. You are not ________ .... and ultimately, you are not any labels you or other people are imposing on you.

You are more than that.

When everything is stripped away and you realize you are not giving up on life yet, that's when you know you are bigger than life itself.