Hidden Lessons....

I was watching yet another show about teens and their high school lives tonight. This time it was Dawson's Creek, before that it was One Tree Hill and before that it was Greek. They are all amazing shows for their own reasons and in their own way.

Shows like these make you think. They mean different things to different people. For some, like me sitting here at 41 years old, they remind me of a time when dreams were possible. They make me wonder about my own childhood years. They make me look back on my own parenting triumphs and terrible mistakes. They evoke emotions for me that sometimes are wonderful and other times are traumatic but all of them help me to think about things and work through things that I may have tucked away in order to deal with them in my own way and time.

For others, who might be teenagers themselves, I hope they remind them that there is hope within their dreams and there are so many different things they could dream of doing and being. I hope these shows remind them to BE young while still working toward any future it is that they desire and that they can do both.

Then their are those young parents who might be watching a show like this. I pray this is a reminder to them to support their children and guide them but with love and compassion. I know there were times when I might have shut down one of my children's dreams because I worried that they would end up poor and struggling if they didn't focus on something I felt was more attainable. I am forever sorry for those choices because it is important to both you and your child for them to feel your pride, your love, your support, no matter how difficult that might be. It is important for your children to feel loved even when they make mistakes or have dreams that might not match your own for them.

Some people simply find shows entertaining or vaguely interesting. They are an escape from our own world into one that doesn't effect our own future. On a deeper level though, if you look and really think about them, they are teaching us. There is a lesson there in the semi-reality of these shows that can help us to do something different and important for ourselves and for others.

The next time you are watching any show go ahead and allow that show to help you escape. Get involved for that hour or those many hours with the characters and plot lines. Let it take you on whatever emotional tour it wants to take you on, and then find the deeper meaning. Compare it to your own life. What is this show trying to teach you, show you, or help you understand. No movie or show is created without some sort of message, that's what makes them so special. There is a lesson in every single story even if it is hidden deeply beneath the hollywood exterior.