what are these guys on?

i usually use this statement when i'm complaining how other peple see life (and usually its in a shallow way). but for the past couple of days, i've been using this for ty pennington and all the other members of 'extreme makeover: home edition'. my mouth's literally open when i watch this show and say in my mind, "what are these guys on?" and i don't mean it in a bad way, rather something that's really amazing, to say the least.

not that i liked the show ever since.

when i first watched emhe, i felt that it was such a wasteful show (this is the environmentalist in me kicking in). destroying a house, building up from scratch, getting a bigger house, using all that energy, mostly non-renewable resources, blah-blah-blah, so on and so forth.

so after the introduction, i just got my remote and changed it to another channel without really understanding the context of the show. it was the end of emhe for me, or so i thought.

a few days ago, i started watching this show again. i was looking for a documentary and perhaps also see a home renovation show to get some ideas for the house. i couldn't find any at that time expect for 'extreme makeover: home edition'. letting go of all my complaints of it, i gave it a shot and actually watched a whole episode.

and i was blown away. i mean, here are people who build a house in 7 days and are helping deserving families. building a house in the regular timeframe is no joke. i've been through one and it's quite tiring with lack of adherence to the blueprint and all the complaints of everyone involved. and that's a year! these people are building it in 7 days -- that is just tremendous! i don't even see them complain, at least not on screen. but i think that they don't really have room to do that. not with what is at stake. it for the families, the future of the families that they are helping.

and when done right, it is bound to change their lives. (and that is what's at stake).

they've created a beautiful context that once the house is built, the family who now comes home to it becomes inspired, changed and transformed by this experience. i know that no one can replace a deceased loved-one or diseases that are happening within the family, but they've proven to have a very efective proxy in dealing with these things in an empowering manner. (if life is a game, this is a game i'd love to play.)

and then you have the community. there's the contractor and the volunteers who give their time and resources to these people. i was just astonished by the limitless way that people give. i see it in the way they build the house, and that always, it's not just a house but a future that speaks against domestic violence, promise, bringing families together, hope and love. i've never seen a profound sense of community found on such a systematic basis -- just episode after episode.

and when the episode finished, i was just saying, "what are these guys on?"  really, what are these guys on that their view of life is so empowering? that they can accomplish so much in 7 days. that they change the lives of people.

this is indeed a lot of heart.