Morality & The Shield, Part 2

There are things
I have done
There's a place
I have gone
There's a beast
And I let it run
Now it's running . . .
My way

Lyrics from "This Night" by Black Lab

This song was used in a promo for season six of "The Shield". Its lyrics are rich with the story that “The Shield” has portrayed from the very first episode – the idea of committing an unpardonable sin that defines you & haunts you for as long as you live.

The “original sin” of this television series occurred in the pilot episode. As I introduced to you in a recent entry, this show follows the adventures of an experimental anti-gang & -drug unit. In the first episode, the unit consists of four members. The captain of the police precinct knows that the unit is dirty, but can’t prove it. So he selects someone he can trust, officer Terry Crowley, to infiltrate the unit – a NARC among NARCs. Vic Mackey, the unit’s leader, learns of the captain’s plot, and his brilliant solution is to this problem is to blow the snitch away. And that’s just what he does.

Similar to a common interpretation of the unpardonable sin of the New Testament, disloyalty is the ultimate sin among cops. The pilot of “The Shield” received extreme negative reviews from real-life law enforcement officers because of what they considered the incredulity of a cop murdering a fellow officer. However, as it bears out, the entire series is an outgrowth of that “original sin.” It is true to reality in that the series fleshes out the consequences of turning on one’s own.

"I'm a BAAAAD man!"

When Mackey murders Crowley, there is one other member of the Strike Team who knows about it – Detective Shane Vendrell. Vendrell witnesses the deed, and helps cover Vic & his story. Vendrell can’t cope with what they did in the same, easy way that Mackey can, however. It haunts him, and drives him to get into trouble in later episodes. Ultimately, it comes to a point where Detective Vendrell becomes the “beast” that Mackey “let it run,” and in season 6 it starts “running (his) way.” Vendrell mimics Mackey’s deed of murdering a fellow cop for what appeared to be a justified reason. Mackey disagrees, and they become enemies.

I wonder about this idea of a horrible sin – something so abhorrent, so abominable. Something so scandalous, savage, and/or fierce that there is no going back. Something so wretched that it grows out of your control & creates a monster that turns on yourself.

Tom Hanks’ character voices his trepidation in committing such a transgression in The Green Mile. As an executioner at a state prison, Hanks’ character realizes that there is a man on his death row that is innocent of the crime he is being prosecuted for. And not only that, but this man possesses an incredible gift to heal. As the time approaches for this captive healer to go to the electric chair, Tom Hanks’ character wonders what he should do. “I've done some horrible things in my life, but this is the first time I've felt a real danger of hell,” he tells his wife. "On the day of judgment, when I stand before God, and he asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what do I say? That it was my job?"

There is an element of shame that I believe to be ungodly. Satan suggests to us that our particular brand of sin is so heinous that we are unworthy of God’s love & grace. However, I wonder about this idea of doing a deed that genuinely leads you down a path where there is no return.

In the Special Features on the DVD for Season 5 of “The Shield,” actor Walter Goggins (who plays Detective Shane Vendrell) talks about the trajectory of the Vic & Shane story-line – from helping one another cover up a horrible deed to becoming mortal enemies. He says, “Wherever it goes, there will be pain to deal with.” The final season will hopefully air on FX in 2008. I can’t wait to see what the writers do with the final installment. If the plot follows through toward a realistic end, I can only conceive of one possibility.

Morality & The Shield

This is the first in what I hope will be at least a three-part series on the subject of morality & ethics that includes meditations from one of my favorite television dramas, "The Shield." I promised this was coming about 10 months ago, and now I'm finally getting around to it. This is a subject that I often think about, as evidenced by having written about this subject before. And I'd love to encourage dialogue in the form of comments here or on your own blogs.

It occurs to me that one of Satan's greatest psychological weapons, among his considerable arsenal, is twisting humanity's sense of what is good and evil. No one is immune. From among those whom we would consider the greatest sinners to those among whom we would consider the greatest saints & do-gooders, Satan works to twist our sense of righteousness. Given my own & my readership's ideology, I'm most interested in how Satan seeks to twist a Christian's understanding of morality.

Some time ago, I came across this illustration from a sermon.

Writer & speaker Joni Erickson Tada was paralyzed from the neck down in a diving accident. In her book "Secret Strength", Joni wrote about facing temptation.

"I was in my late 20’s, single, and with every prospect of remaining so. Sometimes lust or a bit of fantasizing would seem so inviting and so easy to justify. After all, hadn’t I already given up more than most Christians just by being disabled? Didn’t my wheelchair entitle me to a little slack now and then?"

Joni went on the ask her readers:

"When God allows you to suffer, do you have tendency to use your trials as an excuse for sinning? Or do you feel that since you’ve given God a little extra lately by taking abuse, that He owes you a "day off?"

Hard times can often lead to temptation... In our suffering the evil one is quick to come to our aid and offer one of his solutions; pursuing pleasure to numb the pain, copping an attitude, becoming bitter, getting even, feeding anger...

Vic Mackey IS the law

She's spot on.

One of my favorite television dramas is FX's The Shield. The main character is Detective Vic Mackey, the checkered leader of an experimental anti-gang & drug unit called "The Strike Team." Mackey is good at what he does. He gets results. But he's also in on the take, and Vic rationalizes this practice in a number of ways (e.g. busting down rival drug dealers in certain territories while taking a "tenant's fee" from the drug dealer that he feels he can regulate, so as to keep drugs from completely flooding the streets). Another one of the ways he rationalizes this is how good he is at what he does. In an episode from a recent season, Vic finally pours out his heart concerning why he skimmed off the top, AND why he came clean. He says this:

"It was easy, alright. NO fuss, no victims. I was clearing twice as many cases as anyone here [...] The city was getting their money's worth, trust me.

"But I quit ... because I still wanted to be a cop! Because I can do better."

Fighting for right means not participating in wrong on the side from time to time.

I've experienced this temptation myself. With a group of ministers yesterday in our weekly accountability & encouragement meeting, a couple other ministers gave voice to that temptation. One stated, "I spend all day going & doing for everyone else. When I come home, I want to veg on the couch while my wife serves ME."

It's a form of pride. Effectively, what we're saying to God in those moments is this:

Hey, God, enough already! Alright? I've filled my quota for the day. Get someone else to do your bidding for a while; I've given you plenty. And don't give me that tired, old "Jesus gave it all" line. Six hours one Friday... BULLL-logna. I'd like to see Jesus do what I do.

In those moments, we don't have in mind that Jesus became poor so that we could become rich, that He did for us what we could not do for ourselves, and that everything we have is because of Him. We just want what we want.

There is no viable rationalization for plain, old selfishness. That "old man" (Rom. 6:6) wants to creep back in, get back a foot-hold, and rebel against a soul surrendered to God's will. No amount of do-gooding earns anyone a free ticket to sin. When we begin to think that we can reward ourself by making a wrong decision, we're treading into enemy territory.