Alone.
During the national shutdowns in 2020/21 – in response to the covid pandemic – millions of Americanas found themselves isolated within their homes. Many worked from home using digital connectivity but found themselves with large blocks of time to fill with something that would grab their attention and give some relief from the unrelenting sameness of each successive day.
For many, binge-watching became a diversion-of-choice. Conversations among friends were likely to include experience-based reviews of programs that had been captivating enough to allow people to get hooked and track with new episode releases as they were dropped to the hungry public.
Just as the covid lockdown cloud began to clear and life began to reopen, my own experience turned dark: I was diagnosed with Acute Leukemia on January 7th, and the freedom I had enjoyed – even during the pandemic lockdowns – was taken away. Stashed in a hospital room for over two months – and on home detention the rest of the time – the need for something to provide some sensory escape emerged.
Alone.
Created as a limited series by the History Channel in 2015, this intriguing reality program is now in Season 9. The premise is simple: ten highly-vetted participants are dropped into separate sectors of a remote part of the world – wilderness settings like Vancouver Island, Patagonia, Mongolia, Northern Canada – with only their personal minimums, ten items chosen from a pre-approved list of 40, and a sat phone allowing them to “call 911” if they needed intervention.
All by themselves – in places where they were not the alpha predators – their mission was to find food and water and to create adequate shelter in places of natural beauty that became a survival nightmare within days of arrival. Human contact was limited to occasional visits by the emergency medical team who would determine whether the competitor could go on without risk of death. For many, weight loss or injury were not the cause of tapping-out and ending their bid for the cool half-million.
I confess: I became hooked on seeing the ingenious strategies for crude shelter or trapping small varmints for dinner delicacy. The mandatory self-operated video setups allowed the hopeful hermits to talk to their 2.2 million audience through the course of their uninterrupted days of survival. Without knowing it, they were confirming a truth that tracks back to the second chapter of Genesis.
Dropped into Paradise, God’s ultimate creation – man – was the only human to enjoy the majesty of an unspoiled ecosystem that lacked every negative condition that preoccupies modern society. Despite the idyllic setting, God observed Adam going about his daily routines and came to this conclusion: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (2:18).
Adam was in the best of settings – provided with bounty that would have made Whole Foods superfluous – but there was a crucial element that was missing. Though in fellowship with God, he was lacking a key ingredient without which healthy sustainability is impossible: Adam had no companion.
God as a daily walking partner. A perfect spouse made with compatibility that eHarmony could never match. No shortages of any kind; nothing in life scoring less than a perfect 10. Who could hope for more?
You know the story: the Evil One – the loneliest individual in the Cosmos – drove a wedge between God and Adam and Eve that continues to disrupt life today. To this day, sin distances people from God, and disengages people from one another.
Why did Jesus come: live, teach, die and resurrect? He came to reconnect us with God, and with one another. God gave His Son to eliminate Alone… and replace it with Together. Amazing!
