Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Makes Reality TV a Beautiful Thing
By Judith Parker Harris | January 26, 2010
Block: Reality TV
Buster: Find the Heroes
I watched my first episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition last night and I was in for a shock. I have hung on tenaciously to my belief that reality TV wouldn’t last. I’m a child of television. I like scripted shows with a beginning, middle and end that are produced to the last line of dialogue. I don’t want to watch real people. I get enough of that every day. But this wasn’t just any home improvement, they tackled a whole neighborhood as they centered on a delightful woman from Jamaica, Delores Powell who purchased a 6-bedroom home in Buffalo, New York for her family before she knew it was condemned and scheduled to be demolished. Still, Delores was fueled by the love of her family and she managed to be the heart of an entire neighborhood that needed a makeover in the worst way.
I couldn’t stop looking. Thousands of people volunteered. They made her dump with no hot water where “nothing worked,” into a castle and, they took on 60 other jobs in this run down but proud neighborhood of Buffalo.
So, I have added another remedy to the feeling of overwhelm. Do what the Extreme Makeover folks do, volunteer, choose your makeover and get it done.
The villain of overwhelm survives on two words, “I can’t. To take the villain down, you must say, I can,” and that’s what they say on this reality show. Every square inch of the makeover of this home centered on the possibility for each member of the family. There was a budding architect, a writer, an athlete and a singer. Each room expressed each child’s dream as a reality, including the Mom who wanted to emerge from her cocoon and fly like a butterfly. I cried all the way through this show. Everyone was treated with dignity and the word “no” didn’t exist.
So, now I am a fan of this show, because it does what I encourage others to do when they face that overwhelmed feeling – “Say I can and do it.” Take action. The problem with many reality shows is that they are designed around the lowest aspirations, motivations and behaviors that people exhibit. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is designed around the best. Here are just a few: A woman’s home is her castle, Communities form to help each other be the best they can be. There is no such word as “can’t.” Dream big and then help make it happen. Embrace the opportunity that exists in our country. You can’t hold a good neighbor down – so get out of the way when neighbors come to help. We all need a community and when we find it, we must cherish it for it will, indeed, nourish us. Find your team and honor it for it will make you stronger than you could ever be alone. Know that everyone comes into your life for a purpose, so do your best to know what it is and be thankful.
In this country when people connect from their heart drives, miracles happen. When I live in the knowledge of the above, I cannot be overwhelmed.
By the way, my partner, Dr. Jo Ann Piña, and I offer Complete Business Attitude Makeovers
Topics: Blogs | 1 Comment »
January 30th, 2010 at 11:48 am
This time of year is great time to think about makeovers. Your blog is a guide to do exactly that.