FIVE
* * *
It used to be that people were polite. You could go on the internet and look at the posting boards and there would be lots of people like you there, people who loved 7th Heaven and who appreciated it. Sure, there were always a few, people like Theresa, who would come to the boards and say stupid and mean things about the show, but there didn't used to be very many of them.
It was different now. People were saying really terrible things about 7th Heaven and the Camdens. There was one site where all they did was call the show stupid. I went there once and looked around; it was Saturday night but Abby was out on a date with Vick. I was in college now, at the local community college. I thought of Lucy when I went there, how she was in college too, over at Crawford. I kept hoping I'd meet a good guy at college or somewhere, just like she had met Kevin. It was so romantic, the way he'd asked her out right there, when he had arrested her at the airport. Why couldn't that happen to me?
One guy at the negative web site was going on and on about how offended he was that Lucy had made terrorist threats at the airport. He called it an insult to the people who died on 9-11. I couldn't believe what I was reading.
#
* Note also that this is the first mention of the terrorist attacks of 9-11 made on 7th Heaven, and it gets to be used as a plot contrivance so a Camden girl can swap spit with some guy. 3000 dead people don't seem to matter to this network; not at all. Mass murder? What a nifty way for Lucy to meet her next date! This appalling insensitivity to the very real pain and shock we have all endured is, in my opinion, a new low for the show. And this from the daughter who wants to become a Minister?
#
I logged on, created a nickname for myself, typed furiously.
#
* Ican't believe you people!!!! This is a GREAT SHOW!!!!! Its about MORAL people who love each other and its a romance!!!! If you hate the show so much STOP WATCHING IT!!!! GET A LIFE, LOSERS!!!!
#
My hands were shaking as I posted the message. I don't know why I was so angry, but I was. And for a moment then I felt real fear, because who knew who these people were? Was one of them a hacker who would track me down? Maybe I should pull the message.
I thought hard about this for a moment.
No. What I had said was right, and it needed to be said. Because 7th Heaven was a good show. It was. Sure, the characters were different than they had been, but that's because they were growing up and things are always different when you are growing up. I wondered for a moment who this guy who was so offended by the way Lucy met Kevin was. Why would he say something like that? His words were there, on my screen, like he was staring at me.
He's a jerk, I told myself. Just a jerk.
The thought came to me then. I don't know where it came from but suddenly it was there. What if he was really sad because of 9-11? What if he was just saying what he felt, not because he was mean or a jerk, but because that was just how he felt?
I shook my head. No. Maybe it wasn't perfect, but 7th Heaven was a good show. He had no right to say things like that about it. 7th Heaven made me feel good. It showed that life could be good and that true love was real.
I turned off my computer and pulled out one of the old episodes of 7th Heaven, turned on my TV and shoved the tape into the VCR. As the words of the theme song echoed into the room I closed my eyes and sang it along with them.
And it was just me, Lucy, twelve years old again, with a happy family that loved me, life so simple and carefree ....
* * *
It used to be that people were polite. You could go on the internet and look at the posting boards and there would be lots of people like you there, people who loved 7th Heaven and who appreciated it. Sure, there were always a few, people like Theresa, who would come to the boards and say stupid and mean things about the show, but there didn't used to be very many of them.
It was different now. People were saying really terrible things about 7th Heaven and the Camdens. There was one site where all they did was call the show stupid. I went there once and looked around; it was Saturday night but Abby was out on a date with Vick. I was in college now, at the local community college. I thought of Lucy when I went there, how she was in college too, over at Crawford. I kept hoping I'd meet a good guy at college or somewhere, just like she had met Kevin. It was so romantic, the way he'd asked her out right there, when he had arrested her at the airport. Why couldn't that happen to me?
One guy at the negative web site was going on and on about how offended he was that Lucy had made terrorist threats at the airport. He called it an insult to the people who died on 9-11. I couldn't believe what I was reading.
#
* Note also that this is the first mention of the terrorist attacks of 9-11 made on 7th Heaven, and it gets to be used as a plot contrivance so a Camden girl can swap spit with some guy. 3000 dead people don't seem to matter to this network; not at all. Mass murder? What a nifty way for Lucy to meet her next date! This appalling insensitivity to the very real pain and shock we have all endured is, in my opinion, a new low for the show. And this from the daughter who wants to become a Minister?
#
I logged on, created a nickname for myself, typed furiously.
#
* Ican't believe you people!!!! This is a GREAT SHOW!!!!! Its about MORAL people who love each other and its a romance!!!! If you hate the show so much STOP WATCHING IT!!!! GET A LIFE, LOSERS!!!!
#
My hands were shaking as I posted the message. I don't know why I was so angry, but I was. And for a moment then I felt real fear, because who knew who these people were? Was one of them a hacker who would track me down? Maybe I should pull the message.
I thought hard about this for a moment.
No. What I had said was right, and it needed to be said. Because 7th Heaven was a good show. It was. Sure, the characters were different than they had been, but that's because they were growing up and things are always different when you are growing up. I wondered for a moment who this guy who was so offended by the way Lucy met Kevin was. Why would he say something like that? His words were there, on my screen, like he was staring at me.
He's a jerk, I told myself. Just a jerk.
The thought came to me then. I don't know where it came from but suddenly it was there. What if he was really sad because of 9-11? What if he was just saying what he felt, not because he was mean or a jerk, but because that was just how he felt?
I shook my head. No. Maybe it wasn't perfect, but 7th Heaven was a good show. He had no right to say things like that about it. 7th Heaven made me feel good. It showed that life could be good and that true love was real.
I turned off my computer and pulled out one of the old episodes of 7th Heaven, turned on my TV and shoved the tape into the VCR. As the words of the theme song echoed into the room I closed my eyes and sang it along with them.
And it was just me, Lucy, twelve years old again, with a happy family that loved me, life so simple and carefree ....