For many of us, our lives don’t work out the way we planned. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a plan. It’s very apropos that Lost’s “Dr. Linus” episode was named for a teacher since it taught us some very valuable lessons about who we are and what our purpose here may be. In other words, it really was all about you.
Life can often be frustrating. We can work hard, have faith, follow the clues, be good people, make sacrifices for the greater good, and still find ourselves in pretty dismal circumstances. When reflecting on our lives, we may wonder where we went wrong, or, if we are being punished for some reason. Perhaps something we did in a prior lifetime─karma that finally caught up to us.
From our limited perspective, it may sometimes seem that our lives aren’t amounting to much. But like It’s A Wonderful Life, we usually just don’t realize how many lives we’ve touched─lives that were made better because we were in them or at least helped influence them in some way. We might feel like failures, but in fact, may have succeeded without even knowing it. It’s just that there is a bigger picture going on behind the curtain that is more important than our own wants and perceived needs.
As Ben is told by Jacob at the end of “The Incident” it’s not about him. But it is about how he fits into the overall picture. That was why as Miles told Ben in “Dr. Linus,” Jacob continued to have hope for Ben right up until the very end. Hope that despite all of Ben’s hardships, much like the Biblical Job, he would keep the faith. So while Ben had given up on Jacob, Jacob never gave up on him. And this knowledge may have swayed Ben to return to Jacob’s side, despite his temptation from Jacob’s nemesis to join the dark side. Perhaps Ben had to go through all those hardships so that he could have the strong foundation to be able to make the tough choices he would need to make─choices that would drastically affect the lives of others.
In both his island life and parallel life, Ben had to make a choice between benefiting just himself or, someone else. And in both lives, he chose the more challenging, selfless path. Perhaps then, Ben is one of the good guys as he had claimed all along. So is there a message there? That whatever makes us who we are stays with us no matter what life situation we are placed in? Are there good souls and bad souls that will remain that way regardless of how their life turns out? Is there an inner-intelligence that determines what we are?
This question of what makes us who we are was the theme of the 1998 movie Dark City. In the film, a society of aliens has created an artificial world and placed Earthlings inside it with different professions and socio-economic backgrounds. Once the humans were comfortable in their respective lives, the aliens would change them around, complete with lifelong memories of their new life. Millionaires would become paupers, healers would become killers, cops would be criminals, and all of them would believe that this is what their life had always been. What the aliens were looking for was what stayed the same when they continually shuffled the people’s circumstances. Whatever this constant was, was presumed to be the soul, and this is what the aliens wanted to find. If you put people into different life situations, will the same people always be good while others are always evil? Or, will it depend upon the life situation they find themselves in?
This element of what makes people who they are is also explored on Lost as seen through the flash-sideways, enabling us to see what stays the same when the characters are thrown into different life situations. In both parallel worlds, Kate is running away from her problems, Locke is angry at the world, Jack is dealing with daddy issues, Sayid is a killer, and Ben devises intricate plans to suit his Napoleon-esque power-hungry ego. This all comes down to the characters’ nature. But can it be changed, or at least, tweaked?
In both versions of his life, Ben feels that he hasn’t been treated fairly and therefore, has not been able to live up to his potential. Despite this belief, he still ends up making a sacrifice for the greater good. In one life he does this by giving up his blackmailed principal position in order to ensure his student Alex’s future. In the other, he gives up the power offered to him by MIB/Locke in order to return to help the side that he felt was the good one─a side that will have him despite his past transgressions. So does this mean that the villainous Ben Linus actually has a good soul? Yes…we all do. But some of us just have to clear away the crud that life has thrown at us in order to find it. A theme of Lost has always been that no one is truly bad or good. They just do what they think is right as seen through the filter of life that they have experienced.
As seen in both timelines, the characters sometimes choose to do bad things, but usually it is the result of situations they are thrown into. Each choice they make helps determine who they really are─tipping the scale more towards the ego/selfish side, or the spiritual/selfless one. Dogen believed that Sayid’s internal scale had tipped too far towards “evil.” But everyone can be redeemed. In fact, no matter which side of the scale we are leaning, the universe will continually challenge us to grow with experiences that require us to make a decision about who we are. These decisions don’t change our soul, but can help us to get in touch with it. In some parallel versions of our life, we have grown ourselves by making a majority of choices that went against our selfish nature. In others, we’ve stayed pretty much the same by making an equal number of selfish and selfless choices. And in others, we’ve tipped the scale entirely towards the selfish side by usually choosing for just ourselves.
Ben’s father Roger Linus is someone who lives life full of regret in both of his timelines. On the island, he’s tipped the scale entirely towards the selfish side, blaming his son for the death of his wife and becoming an alcoholic in the process. In the parallel timeline, Roger blames himself for leaving the island, and while still relatively negative and regretful, seems to have a better relationship with his son. Not shown on Lost, but existing somewhere in the multiverse is a version of Roger Linus that is even stronger. Here, there is no blame at all, but acceptance. This version was able to accept his wife’s death and play the challenging role of both father and mother to his son. In “Dr. Linus” when Ben complained to his dad about the way his life turned out, instead of agreeing and being regretful about leaving the island, this version of Roger Linus would have commended his son for completing his doctorate, dedicating his life to helping others, and being able to take care of him in his old age. This stronger version of Roger Linus would’ve told his son that he was proud of him, just as Jack told his son in his parallel timeline.
On Lost, it seems as though the decisions that the characters make on the island, influence their parallel lives. Island Hurely has risen above his belief of feeling like a jinx and is rewarded with good luck in the parallel timeline. Jack has taken a leap of faith by risking his life with Alpert and is beginning to accept that he has what it takes, enabling him to resolve his issues with his son in the parallel time. Ben’s selfless decision to return to Jacob allowed him to make another selfless decision for Alex. On the other hand, Sayid who has decided to kill on the island, eventually makes that same choice in his parallel life. Perhaps this is why he is not married to Nadia in this life, it is sort of his punishment because he does not “deserve” her. In both timelines, Sayid wants to be good but always makes the choice to kill. I personally feel that the choice was a bit unfair in the off-island timeline since he was kidnapped and Keamy had threatened his family, but hopefully, Sayid’s story doesn’t end there.
Overall, the message for us is that even though things may not appear to be going according to our plans, it is not our plans that necessarily matter. Despite how things may appear, we are part of a much bigger plan. Richard Alpert feels betrayed and misled by Jacob, dedicating multiple lifetimes to a plan that seems to have failed. Was all his hard work and dedication for nothing? Even if the plan doesn’t work out, the answer is no. The reason is because all his hard work was not ultimately about helping Jacob, but helping himself. Just as Jack thought that the lighthouse would be helping someone else, we come to learn that it was all for his benefit. Similarly, our journey through life isn’t about how we succeed in mastering the material world. It’s about how we succeed in mastering ourselves─overcoming our own selfish desires. And the better you do, the easier you’ll make it for everyone else.
If things have been particularly challenging for you, perhaps you just have more growing to do because you’ve taken on a more challenging role. Each time you are presented with a tough decision and make the more selfless, challenging choice, you’ll be presented with fewer of those types of decisions in the future. Make the more selfish choice however, and you’ll be presented with those same situations again and again.
If you want to know how you’re doing, just look at your own life. What parts appear to flow smoothly and what parts feel like a broken record? Why does Sayid continually have to make decisions about killing? So he can choose to walk away from it. Why does Jack always end up in situations that he feels need to be fixed? So he can accept something even if it’s broken. Why does Kate always have something to run away from? So she can choose not to and settle down. Why does Locke always have crap happen to him? So he can learn not to react and be grateful for what he does have. Why did Hurley always experience bad luck? So he could learn how to make his own luck. Why did Claire keep having her baby taken away? So she could really want to raise it on her own. And why do you always have that same thing that always happens to you? Next time it happens and you’re about to act the same way you usually do, take the more challenging path. You’ll be one step closer to redeeming the main character of your life story.
Marc Oromaner is a New York City writer whose book, The Myth of Lost offers a simple solution to Lost and uncovers its hidden insight into the mysteries of life. He can be contacted in the discussion section of The Myth of Lost Facebook page.
The Myth of Lost is available on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com.
Tags: abc, Ben, Ben Linus, challenges, Dark City, good and evil, It's A Wonderful Life, Lost, marc oromaner, mythology, parallel lives, scale, soul, the myth of lost, tv
38 Responses to “Marc Oromaner’s Lost In Myth: The Lesson of “Dr. Linus”─What About You?”
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This is a very well-written article, and I give you all due credit for that. But I just don’t buy the idea that Ben has a good soul, or that he can be redeemed. He’s a multiple murderer–his own father, possibly Henry Gale, Keamy, Locke (three times), Caesar, Jacob, Abaddon, and an Arab–not to mention the fact that he also enabled the deaths of 40 members of the Dharma Initiative, and tricked Sayid into killing a bunch of Whidmore’s people. No matter how much he wants to be a good guy now, nothing changes the fact that at his core, he’s a sociopath and a killer. He’s unredeemable, in my opinion, and I can’t imagine how anyone could see him as a good person at this point.
Thank you! Finally someone mentions that Ben killed Cesar. Is Illana OK with that? I was very surprised by the scene where she said she would have Ben. It was well acted and the intention of the writers was right, but what about Cesar?!
Also, Dark City is a great movie.
What are the 3 times Ben killed Locke–I’m guessing (1) when he shot him in front of the pit of Dharma victims & (2) when he strangled him in the hotel room, of course…but can’t think of #3
Also, I do think he is redeemable at this point. A sociopath feels no regret, has no conscience. Ben has exhibited that behavior in the past, but his sadness & regret in 6.07 felt very genuine to me. Most of his actions in the past were what he thought he was supposed to do–gassing the Dharma people for instance.
“It only has to end once…” – could it be as simple as making the ‘right’ decision based on your life’s challenge? From a buddhist perspective, rebirth and all that, nirvana is the end – it’s where you’ve conquered the life challenges you had to face before you could be perfect. But once you do, you are perfect. The cycle of birth-death-rebirth can only end once. (The beauty being that you can choose to come back to help others on their path to achieving nirvana…) What if being a candidate is just that – you’re so close to perfection, and only a few things stand in your way? As a bodhisattva, Jacob may be looking for someone to replace him in helping souls along the path, helping souls see the decisions they have to make in order to advance along the path. And, once he finds another bodhisattva to replace him, his cycle can completely and finally end.
Perhaps we should review the definition of “forgiveness” for the class…
Thanks for bringing that up Abur. My thoughts are that at this point in the story, we still don’t know what Ben’s motivations ultimately were. If DHARMA were legitimately good people and he killed them just to selfishly gain his own power, then I would agree that he still has a very long way to go to redemption. But I would still believe that he could be redeemed. And I also would say that he has a good soul. I believe the soul is always pure, but our own choices can clog our connection to it. Ben’s connections, it would seem, have been very clogged.
As of now though, it is still possible that those killings, while tragic, were necessary for a much bigger picture. One of the points I was making with this article was that we don’t always know what the ultimate point is. Perhaps in killing 50-60 people, Ben has actually saved the world, and his only transgression, was killing Jacob who can be reincarnated or at least exist on another plane.
The reason I feel that Ben is a good guy, is because in his parallel life, that seems very clear. And the parallel lives seem to reflect the on-island lives. That’s why every single flash-sideways so far has shown a reflection of the centric character. After LOST concludes, we’ll have more information as to whether or not Ben has truly been redeemed.
Have you considered that many of the murders might have been Jacobs orders? It seems to me that the ‘others’ tend to be very quick to eliminate any strangers on the island. One would think that Jacob is aware of these tendencies, and if he didn’t agree with what seems to be SOP, he would have told them to stop killing everyone who lands on the island.
Personally, I find it hard to believe that they would have gassed all the Dharma people without consulting Jacob. As I say, it may even have been his orders.
And if my father was Roger, I might have wanted to gas him myself. He was a jerk, esp. when he drank.
I won’t even try to understand anymore who is good or bad, there are simply too many shades of grey. I’m just along for the ride.
so, marc, are you saying sayid can yet be redeemed? isn’t there at point of no return beyond which our fate is sealed and our life choices made? my take on the previous episode, sundown, was that sayid’s choices in the alt-timeline–specifically killing Keamy who was pleading for his life–followed him to the island world, influencing his resolve to kill dogen and lennon. even after that, ben offers him an out, and he refuses, saying his die has been cast. if this were star wars, his path could be described by ‘dark side actions’ which follow the Sith way, vs. light side actions, which follow the Jedi way. Dogen made the choice not to kill sayid, though he knew it would prevent evil from spreading; and at the end, he seemed resigned to accept the consequences of that decision. in this episode, ben, who has lied and murdered, and been manipulated by powers he doesnt fully comprehend, ultimately chooses redemption over selfishness. his choice in one timeline affects his choice in the other. but he is able to be redeemed because he confesses his sins. it is not to late for him because he is able to refuse the devil’s bargain (which sayid wasn’t). so, the question is, once you make a Faustian bargain, can you come back from the dark side?
Everyone can be redeemed, especially from a Judeo/Christian perspective. I think LOST has shown us that as well.
I’m not sure that Dogen chose not to kill Sayid for higher purposes. I think it was simply against the rules and he couldn’t kill him. MIB/Locke said as much and it seemed to make sense.
I do agree that Sayid has gone to the dark side. But it is not for power or selfish desires. He seems to be a victim of circumstance. Was it his fault that he was shot? was he wrong to kill Ben who’d grow up to murder so many people? Since Dogen and Lennon tried to kill him, as well as Keamy, wasn’t it wrong to provide an eye for an eye or at least kill in self defense. Had he let any of them live, they could’ve killed him in the future.
So far on LOST, I have not seen a single character who seems purely evil. The CLOSEST I would say is Anthony Cooper–the original Sawyer. But I think even he can come back from the dark side.
A major theme of most of the major religions of our culture is that anyone can be forgiven. Pope John Paul forgave his would-be assassin while he was in prison. No one is beyond redemption. Some just have more work to do than others.
“I’m not sure that Dogen chose not to kill Sayid for higher purposes. I think it was simply against the rules and he couldn’t kill him.”
“Since Dogen and Lennon tried to kill him, as well as Keamy, wasn’t it wrong to provide an eye for an eye or at least kill in self defense. Had he let any of them live, they could’ve killed him in the future. ”
marc, you just said dogen couldnt kill sayid. so that’s not really self-defense.
and i dont think sayid is so much a victim of circumstance as a recipient of karma. he shot a young kid. the kid’s dad shot him. had he not shot ben in the first place, roger linus wouldnt have shot him.
anyway, i’m loving the fact that sayid has embraced the dark side–somebody had to–and i kinda want him to stay there for a minute.
Marc, you said you haven’t seen anyone purely evil. I would say Keamy is purely evil, in both worlds. The writers pretty much dehumanized his character because he killed an innocent girl, while in the other world he was a loan shark. I think that’s pretty equal, if not worse than Anthony Cooper.
I guess it depends on what the island turns out to be and if Keamy knew. It seems that dead is not REALLY dead. If it turns out that it was, then yes, I would agree. Being a loan shark is being a scumbag, but not like taking your own son’s kidney and pushing him out a window. Still, not sure if the levels of badness really matter. I still say everyone can be redeemed. The interesting thing is that most of the time, LOST shows us why these bad guys became the way they are. And the reason is usually understandable.
Just to throw this in here, we’re assuming Anthony Cooper is the father Helen wants John to bring to the wedding…it’s a whole new world, Locke may have been adopted and it’s a different father they are speaking of.
I meant that Dogen and Lennon wanted him to die, but needed someone else to do it. It’s the equivalent of a mob boss wanting you to die and putting a hit on you. He’s not killing you directly, but if he’s the only one that wants you dead, killing him is still self-defense. Just proactive self-defense.
I completely agree that Sayid is the victim of Karma. In many instances. Still, I think he had a right to kill Dogen. Maybe not Lennon. His on-island character has definitely entered the dark path. I don’t mind him there but still hope he is eventually redeemed.
I speak as an atheist, but within the world of LOST, Sayid is redeemaable. He is a victim as much as killer. He has been a lover, a volunteer for social justice and someone who has CONTINUALLY confessed his “sins.” Of course, many times he could have chosen a different path, like Ben did during the last episode. “Dr. Linus” reminded us that free will is in play. However, I do not think Sayid’s story is over yet. Let’s remember all the good things he has done — times he prevented violence, tried to help others. Let’s also not forget that more than one woman died in his arms and that other woman’s inhaler was recently found on the island. Surely, that is foreshadowing of a plotline to come. And what purpose could Shannon’s return have other than some interaction with Sayid. Maybe it will be a ploy by Smokey or Jacob to torture him further. Or through her, who he helped so much, Sayid can find that bit of redemption or peace? He’s been tortured enough, so that is my hope. (Plus surely these writers are too smart to leave us with Iraqi = bad. They are better than that.)
There is no “point of no return.” We always have the opportunity to let go of the past and begin again. There is redemption and forgiveness, but forgiving ourselves is the biggest hurdle.
so sayid couldnt forgive himself?
He has never forgiven himself, though continually tries to be a more peaceful man. However, the guilt and self-loathing was always there. Until Dogen, he was mostly succeeding in being better — assuming killing Keamy was necessary to protect his family. He helped Shannon, Danielle, lent his brains and technical skill and did not avenge Ana Lucia. I would love for Sayid to come to understand how he has, in a misdirected way, used violence to either protect the people he loves or for self-preservation. He needs to understand that, smart as he is, something was weak or angry enough to be manipulated. If he forgives himself, maybe he can change or be “redeemed.”
lright, so I just thought of this but I want to see what you guys think:
The numbers are the core values of the Valenzetti equation. This equation is apparently the predictor of the end of the world. It was proposed (by Valenzetti) that if nothing was done to try and change any of the core values, the end of the world was eminent. The D.I. were doing experiments on the island and might have been trying to find a way to prolong the end of the world.
We now know that the numbers are representative of Jacob’s candidates. SO, I propose that the characters represented by each of these numbers ARE the core values of the equation.
4 being Locke
8 being hurley
15 being sawyer
16 being sayid
23 being jack
42 being sun/jin (i think it means both of them together)
seeing as locke is dead, and kate (#51) hasnt been crossed off yet, I propose that the core values HAVE been changed in the 2007 timeline. This leads me to believe that the flash-sideways time line will end (as in, the world will end).
IF this is the case, then Locke’s death in the original timeline, and the subsequent events, is what saves the world. He changed the values to 8 15 16 23 42 51. Therefore, he becomes the Christ figure (in death, he saved the whole world).
Thoughts?
Sorry, I always sucked at mathematics!
I thought something similar once the numbers were revealed as corresponding to names. What stuck in my mind was Faraday telling Jack that he always thought that whatever happened, happened, but then he realized that he forgot about the variables – people. Numbers = people = variables.
Except that’s backwards. In mathematics, numbers are CONSTANTS, and unknowns like X, Y, or Z are the VARIABLES. I know, I thought through the same things, but then realized it couldn’t work because the terms are backwards from the situation.
ya, but “the core values” are the ones that the DI were trying to change with their experiments (core values = 4 8 15 16 23 42). So are they both?
Mythologically, it’s dead-on and this seems to be where the show is headed. My issue with it is more about WHY these specific people have these numbers? What was the purpose of typing the numbers and broadcasting them and making them the ID for the Swan Station? If they always knew the final six numbers were, and had to be changed, why not just kill everyone to begin with?
In other words, the soul of the theory is great, but the story to get us there still has a lot of holes that I definitely feel need to be explained or else it all feels so arbitrary to me.
Also, I feel that the island timeline is what is supposed to end, not the flash-sideways. But, I guess we’ll see. Supposedly, we’ll find out what the island is in the Richard Alpert-centric episode next week. Maybe you can give some meat to your theory then.
The theory does hold water, I mean when Ilana told Sun about the candidates she knew Sun/Jin was one of them. If she knew about them then it’s assumed she knows the others with John being one of them. She spent all of S5 carrying dead Locke to Jacob. So when she tells Sun that there are only 6 candidates left, and she know Locke is out of the picture, then it’s safe to say 51 – Austen is in play.
What an illuminating article, drawing parallels between art and life! To those questioning if Ben and Sayid can be redeemed, I would say in the real world (OUR world, not ALT or forward world), probably not. But LOST is a parable, so we have liscense to scale down these questions from the literal. The premise here is similar to the dynamic of nature/nurture (always an interplay) and personal growth. Without being shot, abused and manipulated by Jacob, Ben is still Ben in the sideways world. However, he is not nearly as violent and pyscho as “D. Linus” island Ben. On the island, with the traumas he experienced, his ruthlessness takes over his compassion. However, in a different enviornment, he can maintain compassion and over-come his less-noble impulses. An abused Ben, who only is validated through power, has a much harder time doing this. But ulimtately, through experience, even he can. Marc Oromaner is challenging us to apply these lessons through ourselves. We CAN break patterns. Presumably, our bad patterns are not on a Sayid or Ben scale, but the challenge is that maybe we can learn to break cycles, challenge our cycles, take the harder more selfless route, and the world will be better for it. I mean heck, if Ben can and hopefully eventually Sayid can, well, maybe I can too. This is an example of how the “play” of art and the imagination can challenge or inspire us to change.
here here, well said. And if Claire, Charlie and hopefully Kate can, then well, maybe I can too.
Agreed. Y’know, I hear “Flash-forward,” “Fringe,” “V,” and “Heroes” all have openings for spiritual analysis if you’d care to expose their fans to these themes.
“Similarly, our journey through life isn’t about how we succeed in mastering the material world. It’s about how we succeed in mastering ourselves─overcoming our own selfish desires.”
This is one of the most profound statements I’ve ever read. It raises a very important point that’s often made in the religion vs. science debate. Science in its most basic forms is about understanding and subsequently mastering the physical universe. The trouble is when one becomes completely consumed in this quest for knowledge and adheres strictly to only reason the spirit of humanity and our sense of individuality is diminished. Everyone who has ever lived, included noted anti theists like Christopher Hitchens, have acknowledged there are times in our lives where we are acutely and dually aware of both ourselves and the fact that there is something out there bigger than ourselves. The term for such moments is the numinous and I think its a term not enough of us are aware of or realize. I think its vital to acknowledge and understand these moments lest we continue to lose our humanity.
The ultimate goal of all of our lives is to be happy, a concept people often forget. You can commit your life to a business, a scientific pursuit, a political career, etc. but even if you have all the riches in the world is it worth it if you aren’t happy?
Apologies for this rambling exercise but I was so struck by that one highlighted portion that I just had to share my 2 cents (dollars).
Thanks for sharing that. As Joseph Campbell said, “Follow your bliss.”
As for science missing some elements of truth by being too embedded in facts and missing the soul of meaning, I completely agree. This was Albert Einstein’s downfall. He was in his 30s when he discovered his theories of relativity, but then when others began to come up with the connotations of his own theory (quantum physics) Einstein refused to accept them and spent the last 20 years of his life trying (unsuccessfully) to prove them wrong. This was when he said his famous quote “God does not play dice with the universe.” Personally, I think he misunderstood the implications. I wish I could go back in time and have a conversation with Albert based upon how I’ve come to understand quantum physics and I think he just might see it from another perspective. Sometimes, we can be too smart for our own good and it takes a layman to point out what we aren’t seeing. I agree that God does not play dice with the universe in that there is a plan. But we have the freedom to carve our own path through its many twists and turns.
Thanks again, Marc, for another interesting take on what’s been happening on LOST. I like the spin you put on the flash-sideways as being reflective of choices made on the Island.
As you talk about choices, I wrote about something similar on my blog as it relates to comparing Ben to Brutus from “Julius Caesar.” http://tinyurl.com/yafsx7m.
I totally understand Abur’s feelings at the top of the comment’s section. Ben has done a lot of horrible things. Is he a mass murderer, though? He led the Purge that killed the Dharma Initiative, yet you could say he did this to put an end to a years-long conflict between two warring sides. If we say that he’s a mass murderer, than wouldn’t we also consider Harry S. Truman the same since he gave the go ahead to drop the A-Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Most of Ben’s actions can be justified as things he HAD to do as leader of the Others.
I don’t think your analogy is quite right for this situation (as we know it). The “war” between the two sides on the island is very limited – as far as we have seen it resulted in a few, occassional casualties not mass slaughter (vs. WWII). And Ben wasn’t the leader of anything when he helped perpetrate the Purge. It was his mass murder in the Purge that lead him to becoming the leader of the Others…whom he then moved into Dharmaville (talk about your psychological baggage!).
I can see the outrage factor over Ben’s redemption but don’t forget that at some level all most all of the characters have engaged in murder (always justified in their minds) and one of the ideas behind the “Lost” universe is that its a repeating cycle with the same players constantly interacting. So death really isn’t as permanent in this fictional setting as it is in reality. Plus, that whole “forgiveness” thing is a bitch if you really try to apply it without judgment(casting first stones and whatnot).
did anyone notice that on the island ben kills his father with chemical gas but on his other life he changes the oxygen canister for his father in order to breathe..
Nice catch…
Ah, good observation!
Yes, I loved that detail/reversal. That spoke volumes about the role of nurture.
[...] about coming to acceptance when your life doesn’t turn out like you thought it would. (See “The Lesson of ‘Dr. Linus’—What About You?) Like many people, I’d always assumed my mom would be around to see her grandchildren and that [...]
[...] about coming to acceptance when your life doesn’t turn out like you thought it would. (See “The Lesson of ‘Dr. Linus’ — What About You?) Like many people, I’d always assumed my mom would be around to see her grandchildren and [...]