30 Days

Have you seen the show 30 Days? I highly recommend it. It's on its third season now, but I've only just found it.

I've only caught a few shows, and they've been incredibly insightful. In one, a fundamentalist Christian lives for thirty days with a homosexual man in a very gay neighborhood in San Francisco. In another, the host of the show lives for thirty days with a coal mining family and works as a coal miner. I'll admit, I learned a lot about coal mining and coal miners that I'm sure I otherwise would not have.

In a truly amazing episode, a Christan man lives for thirty days with a Muslim family. As part of the "rules," he had to spend life living as a Muslim---dressing, growing his beard, and answering every call to prayer. He learned so much about the faith and found a whole new level of respect and acceptance of people who think differently than he does.

Tonight's episode has a former NFL player living thirty days in a wheelchair. He's going to play on a wheelchair rugby team, work with spinal cord patients, and live without any use of his legs. (but he is allowed to stretch them daily to lessen permanent injury/risks of blood clot.) The doctor told him what to expect: you'll live the next thirty days seeing others' belt buckles, and if your wife is with you, standing behind you, anyone you meet will look only at her. wow. Something for the rest of us to keep in mind.

As someone who has been hurt in a major way, with a cast that ran from my hip to my ankle, I can say that finding yourself suddenly unable to get out of bed and needing help to do so much gave me an amazing level of insight and understanding---on the most basic level., only, though, as I healed, relatively, quickly. (okay, so there's been chronic pain ever since, but still, I'm back on both feet.)

Check out the show if you can.

Insightful.

Educational.

Inspiring.