A lesson in humanity: Taught by Matt Archbold and Dick Clark

Two nights ago I, like millions of others, watched TV on New Year's Eve. Also like many others, part of that time was spent watching Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve. And again, like many, I made the statement: "Aww, they need to let him retire. It's just too sad to watch. It's just cruel to have him on TV." Most everyone around me mumbled in agreement, and we nervously changed the subject and tried not to comment on or focus on the images coming from our TV.

This same situation has played out the last few years... in pretty much the same way, by many who watch that show. I thought we were all on the same page, all correct in our assesment. I figured that this was nothing more than a TV gimmick to pull people in. Maybe it was ABC's version of broadcasting a "car-wreck." Regardless, it was wrong, it was cruel, and we all might even be doing something immoral simply by watching. Who would do that to someone just for the sake of ratings? How could they be so inhumane?

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Then I read Matt Archbold's, from the Creative Minority Report, most recent article over at the National Catholic Register: Making Fun of Dick Clark. It make me realize how wrong I was. I was dead wrong, and if you agreed with what I said above – you are wrong as well.

Matt Archbold made some really interesting points in his article, which you should really read in its entirety. Interestingly, he took what I thought about Dick Clark and made me realize that I wasn't really concerned about him. Instead, his article made me realize that I was being selfish and that I was concerned only with my own comfort and entertainment. As Archbold writes:

Dick Clark is not a legacy, he is a human being.

In these modern times, we seem to feel increasingly “uncomfortable” with anyone who looks less handsome than an A-lister or doesn’t speak as well as Ryan Seacrest. We don’t do sickness anymore. We don’t do ailments. The disabled are something to be hidden away, embarrassed about.

We used to care for our grandparents at home so we all grew up knowing a little something about it. We watched our father carry his mother upstairs after dinner every night. We watched our mother wipe her mother’s face with a napkin. And we learned. We helped pick them up when they fell. And we tried not to notice how embarrassed they were.

But as a culture, we don’t really do that anymore. The old and disabled are all too frequently shipped off and visited infrequently. We prefer to remember them as they were we tell ourselves - as a way of honoring them. But that’s not what’s going on. We just don’t want to be reminded that life isn’t perfect, sickness happens, and disabilities don’t discriminate.

Maybe that’s why 90 percent of Down Syndrome babies are aborted. Maybe that’s why the elderly are euthanized for fear of becoming a burden. They must not be seen. They are the imperfect.

Wow – I was stunned after reading this. He was dead on. But even as I read the above paragraphs, I wouldn't let myself be 100% convinced. I agreed with him, but only in passing. It was as if I said out-loud: "Oh yes, I agree." But then silently disagreed with him, still holding on to my belief that having Dick Clark on TV was somehow wrong. But that is when Archbold dropped the hammer:

I recall when Pope John Paul II bravely faced Parkinson’s in such a public way and we all watched as that always charming and so loved face was radically altered by prescription drugs and transformed into that immovable Parkinson’s Mask. So many publicly urged the Pontiff to retire. Oh they had their reasons. They said he should do it for his own good. Or for the good of the Church.

I found it scary that so many followers of a crucified Christ should think that a suffering man was unfit to lead the Church.

Dick Clark has had an amazing life. And this is the phase of life he’s in right now. Dick Clark was always a great host. But he seems to be more than that now. He seems heroic to me now. He knows he’s slurring his words. He knows he doesn’t look like the teenager he looked like for so long. And I think he’s exactly what we need to see. In these days when everyone on television looks vaguely perfect in a similar way, to me Dick Clark looks…human.

Wow, actually double-WOW! He got me. I could not argue out of this. He is completely right. Dick Clark, like the late Pope John Paul II, in his frailty, suffering, and imperfection... is nothing less than human.

He was right in so many ways. What really hit home though was when he said: "I found it scary that so many followers of a crucified Christ should think that a suffering man was unfit to lead the Church." Yes – again, I was floored. Here I am, taking my usually rock solid beliefs and throwing them out the window because I was so blinded by my own... well pride. But I was also blinded by my comfort and my desire to exist in a humanity that is, well... pretty.

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It is quite humbling to realize you are wrong, especially when it is in the private of your mind. I realized that not only was I wrong, but that I was wrong not in how I analyzed the situation – but wrong in how I actually thought about humanity. As someone that considers them self Pro-Life, I had somehow gotten this one horribly wrong. Where was my compassion? No, not compassion... where was my respect? Who was I trying to protect? It wasn't Dick Clark... I was trying to protect myself. The same way we try and shield young children from the realities of life, I tried to guard myself from the reality of humanity. 

Matt Archbold is right: "Dick Clark was always a great host. But he seems to be more than that now. He seems heroic to me now. He knows he’s slurring his words. He knows he doesn’t look like the teenager he looked like for so long. And I think he’s exactly what we need to see. In these days when everyone on television looks vaguely perfect in a similar way, to me Dick Clark looks…human."

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You may not agree with Matt or I right away, but you should think about it. Life isn't always pretty, but it is always beautiful. It is really easy to disagree with this idea – it is more comfortable and safe to say that people like Pope John Paul II and Dick Clark should sit hidden away to prevent our sensitivities from being shaken. But why should we hide away those that choose to fight on in life, despite the suffering and struggles they face? Isn't that what we teach from an early age? "Walk it off." "No crying in baseball." Etc...? 

Well then why as adults do we shy away from suffering? Is that why we hang "Resurrected Christ" in our parishes now as opposed to Crucifixes? Are we afraid to admit that our salvation comes in the form of suffering? It seems odd that we have gained so much from the pain and struggles of Christ and the Saints and yet we hide it away in favor of comfort and ease. Certainly it was the Resurrection that brought us Salvation. But that Resurrection wasn't accomplished on its own. 

We shy away from watching Dick Clark, for the same reason we don't want to watch the movie The Passion of the Christ. We are too afraid to watch what haunts our dreams. We are too afraid to upset the happiness of life, because happiness is easy – suffering is hard. Pain and suffering are often accompanied by fear. The emotion that freezes us in our tracks and prevents us from moving forward. To defeat fear, we often have to face it head on. 

We cannot defeat fear without facing those things which create the fear. We cannot have salvation without first the crucifixion. Matt Archbold through Dick Clark has taught me that humanity isn't about the pretty faces, and new years are not only about the successes we achieve but also the sufferings we endured and the trials we overcame. Our redemption isn't from our own suffering... but from Christ's. He chose to endure for our sake, so that we could know beauty and comfort. Sometimes we must look upon the destruction that blossomed the beauty... so that we may remember our own humanity.

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