As For Me, In My House...

PBS has produced several reality shows featuring modern families and individuals who are placed in specific back-in-time situations.  These shows cost millions of dollars to produce and the filming usually happens over the course of several months.  It is fascinating to see the challenges faced by people of the past and it is very instructive to observe the attitudes and strategies of the people of the present.  These shows have provided fodder for many a dining table conversation!

We watched 1900 House, set in Victorian England, when it aired fifteen years ago.  At the time there was a call for applicants for their upcoming Frontier House, set in the American West.  I had my fifth child that summer.  Though we did not apply, we seriously considered it and we felt connected to the show.  Years later, when we found the Frontier House set at the library, we watched with interest and dismay as the community fell apart.  Shortly after the show ended, two of the three families were split by divorce, an outcome which surprised none of us.  Sadly, we had watched the children suffer while the adults squabbled.

Our local library has acquired several of these shows and we have checked out most of them.  Admittedly, we have not opted to finish them all:  sometimes the content becomes inappropriate and sometimes the selfishness and contention become unbearable.  In most of them we have picked out a hero or two.  As with many other reality shows, it seems that participants were pulled from the thousands (and tens of thousands) of applicants on the basis of their drama (read contention) potential.  It is always easy to spot those with weak character -- and the villains.

1940's House, set in wartime London, was our favorite
because it ended happily and the participants' lives were bettered by the experience.  This multi-generational family experienced a great deal of stress as they dealt with bombings and rationing, but they knew how the war would end.  They had visits from generous people who had lived through the war and the mother and grandmother learned how to budget, cook and give of themselves.  The two little boys, who attended a regular English school during their adventure, enthusiastically stepped up to their wartime responsibilities and learned to make their own fun.  Sleeping outside in a bomb shelter was like an exciting campout for them!  The grandma was most changed, choosing to live a quieter, more connected and thrifty life upon her return to the twenty-first century.

We have recently watched a few episodes of Colonial House, set in Maine in the 1600's.  Like Ranch House, an 1800's cattle drive scenario, the main points of contention have to do with feminism, atheism, and intemperance.  We have watched as the colonists forced their leader to make moral stands that bring his strong personal religious beliefs up against his commitment to uphold order and fulfill his duties.  Also like Ranch House and Frontier House, the main problems stem from the determined folly of one or two very selfish and misguided women.

In case you're wondering, I am not recommending these shows; but they provided instructive examples for me as I was led to ponder on Clarke House and the power my life has in our reality experience.  We don't have millions of viewers deciding I am the villein, but my life has influence around here, anyway.  Through the examples of these women, good and bad, I have seen myself.  The most divisive characters -- by far -- are women, who often lead their generous or weak husbands and children into embarrassment and disaster.  The strongest characters we have seen are also women:  young women, quietly loving and serving -- and sometimes even standing up and publicly declaring their personal faith in Christ when nobody else would.  That is moral strength.



Women have remarkable power, particularly as they support and strengthen and lead with love.  That is the kind of woman I want to be -- and the kind I am trying to raise at my house.