My last blog entry included a YouTube video of a most unlikely-looking young man who auditioned for Britain’s version of American Idol, and who has a stunningly beautiful voice.  This morning I read the following interview in The Christian Century (July 10, 2007), that reminded me, again, that often our expectations of other people, and of ourselves, are not always the deepest truth about us.   For me, this is really at the core of the message of the Christian faith:  that God is present and alive and ready to work in this world, in this day, in me, and in you, in a way that has the capacity to surprise us, exceed us, and turn our expectations on their heads.  What we can do, and what God can do with us, is limited only by our failures of openness and trust.   From The Christian Century:  Reality television is not known for its portrayal of virtue. And Yau-Man Chan is not someone you might expect to progress to the final four on Survivor: Fiji, the 14th season of the reality television show that is famous, and sometimes infamous, for its stark portrayals of human strength and weakness. Chan, a 54-year-old computer engineer with a love of table tennis, surprised fellow contestants with his intelligence, wit, creativity, stamina and inner and outer strength. But beyond these game-winning traits, Chan became an unusual and compelling figure among viewers by displaying the virtues of humility, generosity, friendship and honesty—what Aristotle might have called the art of living well. The Century talked with Chan about how he became a popular-culture icon. Why and how did you decide to participate in Survivor: Fiji? I was one of the recruits. In its effort to showcase more diversity in its programming, CBS was encouraging minority and older contestants to apply. The network found me through the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association. After the initial contact, I talked to my family, and they were very supportive and encouraged me to participate. Why did I participate? For no other reason than $1 million. Why else would you choose to starve and get bitten by bugs and snakes? Frequently, you made surprising choices on the show. For example, you chose to share key pieces of information out of trust and friendship; you chose to be generous, to refrain from overt criticism and even, we might say, to live by the golden rule. How did you make those decisions? It is really a reality show in that we are who we are. We can pretend all we want, but in the end, with the stress of harsh living conditions and mentally exhausting scheming and plotting as part of the game, our true character will show. I am who I am, and that's what you see.  I am by nature a generous person because I was raised in a very generous and giving household. My culture—Chinese—celebrates honor in interpersonal dealings above all. My heritage expects humans not just to be reasoning but also reasonable. When I lost, I was a humble and gracious loser only because that's how I was raised and how I raise my children. Play hard, play fair, play to win, but when you lose, be gracious and you will get a chance to play again. I suspect that we all know what is right and what is wrong, but whether we choose to do the right thing or not depends on our character. It is easy to do the right thing when someone in authority is watching (parents, teachers, God, Allah), and it is easy to do the right thing when there is nothing at stake. It is perhaps the lowest and most primitive form of morality to do the right thing out of fear of punishment (by parents, teachers, police officers, God, Allah, etc.) if we don't. Can we teach our children to do the right thing when no one is watching, when the parents are not there; to do the right thing just because it is the right thing to do and even when doing the right thing means losing $1 million? I teach my children that character is what you are when no one in authority is looking! What did you learn about yourself by playing the game? I learned that I am stronger mentally than many, and with mental strength come physical capabilities that I never thought I had.

May it be so for all of us.  --Kathi