Friday Night Lights: How the Other Half Live

Friday Night Lights, since the show first aired, has been one of my favorites. I may even be one of the few fans that actually watch it on Friday, instead of using the DVR to catch it at a more convenient time. There is a gritty realness to the show that somehow captures a larger truth about life that many series miss. The characters are flawed, at times the pacing is remarkably awkward, but as a whole it has found a special place in my heart.

The show does a great job of making you ask pretty big questions. On a particular episode of Friday Night Lights, How the Other Half Live, Tim Riggins' brother Billy asked Tim to help him steal bundles of copper wire from a deserted local production plant. Tim chose to help. We are left to conclude that the decision was strictly based on their blood ties. His brother needed him, so he wouldn't let him down. It was Billy's opportunity to change his fortunes and provide a future for his fiancé that appeared brighter than their current circumstances. While I watched the scene unfold and watched how committed Tim was to helping his brother, despite his understanding that what they were doing was wrong, made me recognize an important question, "Are there times when people should do the wrong thing for the right reasons?"

I can imagine the internal dialogue in Tim's head going something like this: "Stealing the copper wire is wrong, but he's my brother. He doesn't always do the right thing, and more often than not he makes bad choices. But, he is trying to turn his life around. He wants to enter his marriage providing for his fiancé and start off on the right foot. Billy will go with or without me, and if I help, he has a better chance of succeeding. This is his chance to start fresh." Surely in our own lives we have experienced circumstances that took us down the same path in our thinking. Or, if we haven't experienced it ourselves, we have witnessed it in someone else's life. At the very least we have seen this dilemma portrayed by another television drama. So, I would say that the question above has merit.

But, what do we do? How do we answer that? Friday Night Lights answered it by having Tim and Billy load a truck full of copper wire and escape into the night. There were a few hair raising moments with watch dogs barking and police cars racing with their sirens on in the distance, but as far as the episode went, the two got away scot-free. Unfortunately, I found myself rooting for them to succeed. An abandoned plant in the middle of nowhere with valuable materials barely guarded didn't seem to offer me any real moral dilemma about ownership. But it should have.

That is the brilliance of this show. The Tim Riggins character is an underdog in many ways. Sure he is popular and loved by the ladies. His girlfriend Lyla is one of the prettiest girls in town. But, he is shackled by his past. He grew up with an uncaring father who left him in the care of his well meaning but irresponsible brother. You can't help but root for him. Even when what he is doing is wrong.

I think the problem with that is in how we justify decisions. The interesting thing about how these dilemmas are portrayed though, is in their one sided nature. We can pull for Tim and his brother because we are presented with their lives. We understand what is at stake when they are confronted with a decision. What we don't see is the other side. Would our response change if we knew ahead of time that the businessman who closed the plant was expecting a pickup of his copper wire in order to sell it to pay for an operation for his sick daughter? It would. But our perception would change again if we knew that the businessman was going to use that money to bankroll illegal activities.

This is a great example of why we can't let situational ethics dictate how we make choices. It is important that we abide by rules and laws that are just. The grey than becomes less grey. It's also how we learn about accepting responsibility for our actions. When there are consequences we are put in charge of our actions. We are held accountable. There is no room for blame shifting. As people we build character and become whole when we choose to do what's right above what's convenient.

That is why I love Friday Night Lights. It's a show about actions and consequences. These characters are growing up in a place where football is king. The town is depressed and the opportunities are few, but on Friday nights, everything is the way it should be. But, this is no Eden. In the end the only answer that I can know to be true for the question about doing the wrong thing for the right reasons is this from Psalm 37:25: "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread." Because the lesson to be learned here is that we should always strive to do the right thing for the right reasons.