A Fix

I find the show Madam Secretary interesting. You may have seen this past week’s episode, but if not let me tell you about one scene the best as I can remember it.

Henry McCord is in the hospital in isolation because he was exposed to radiation while helping a girl who was injured when a bomb exploded at a conference they were attending. (I’m not going to get into the politics of the situation, it doesn’t help my point and could just complicate the discussion.) At this point in the show, it is unclear how the radiation poisoning will affect Henry long term.

The McCord children are in the hospital chapel waiting for word on his condition as Secretary McCord comes in after seeing to her duties as Secretary of State. She happens to notice her son Jason with is head in his lap. Elizabeth McCord reminds Jason his frequently quoting Karl Marx that "religion is the opiate of the masses.” Jason considers himself an atheist. His response however is , “sometimes you just need a good fix.”

I wonder if many people turn to God mostly when they need “a good fix.” Even if you don’t consider yourself an atheist, do you think about God or whatever else you consider a “higher” power during your daily life. This may at first sound like complaining about the hatched, matched, dispatched (baptized, married, funeral), the C & E (Christmas and Easter), or the hypocritical church goer. There’s no question that in every religion there are those that follow the rites and rituals of their religion but don’t take their faith into their daily lives. The bigger question is do they experience “God” in their daily lives.

I’m wondering what was happening with Jason McCord. (I know he’s a fictional TV character, but give me a chance to use this to ask some interesting questions.) Did Jason suddenly begin to believe in God? What god suddenly caught his attention? Does a tragic or difficult situation make us suddenly rethink our beliefs? Are those changes in or beliefs? Or could there be something transcendent, some transcendent power when we are in a group that is focused, caring, in need of each other?

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