This weekend, millions of casual and devoted fans will say goodbye to the epic and complicated story of LOST. This beautiful, small-screen narrative has for years forced its audience to consider and choose sides on its fundamental themes such as good vs. evil, fate vs. free will, science vs. faith, and others. But, as admitted by the show’s creative minds, the first-season idea of “live together, die alone” has risen above all other themes as the castaways look for personal redemption and what they must individually overcome to achieve it.
At the beginning of the series, the Oceanic 815ers find themselves in an unfamiliar setting with strangers in a confined space who all identify with different customs, languages, belief systems and ideologies. They quickly learn they truly must, despite these differences, live together, or surely face uncertainty and tragedy alone.
In a true Marjorie Rosen, art-reflecting-life scenario, today’s active and engaged U.S. citizen must also embrace the increasingly global community in which we live. The world we know has never been smaller or flatter. Many cities – Houston as a prime example – are quickly evolving into an ethnic, religious and socio-economic melting pot that are tremendously different from the cultures of past generations.
The Baker Institute, since its inception, has championed the relevant ideas of cultural and community understanding, public diplomacy and the value of the exchange of ideas.
In his 1993 speech on the vision of the Baker Institute, The Honorable James A. Baker, III commented that we should all “broaden our studies to cover how the world beyond our shores affects our lives here at home.” In 2003, founding director Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian chaired a congressionally mandated bipartisan advisory group on Public Diplomacy in the Arab and Muslim World. It is through this report that the group sought to advise American leadership that only through cultural understanding and communication can we cure the ills and misconceptions that have existed for so long between our respective regions. Currently, through our involvement with Rice University students, 10 undergraduates are preparing for a week-long colloquium in June with counterparts at the American University in Cairo to discuss how younger generations can learn, decipher and alleviate ethnic, religious and political differences between our countries.
In the past six seasons, our LOST characters have faced a myriad problems such as smoke monsters, zealous tycoons seeking the island, hydrogen bombs and others. What the brains behind the show have been trying to relate to us is that if a strong community of these characters had not been established, they could never have overcome these obstacles and find the redemption they were individually seeking.
Our city, our country and our world is drastically changing and presenting humans with tremendous economic, environmental and societal hurdles – none of which we should take lightly. But can one culture, one country, or one government face these in isolation? Surely not. We are a community; a community of citizens. We must also learn to live together, or we will certainly die alone.
Ryan Kirksey is the director of operations and finance at the Baker Institute. He has been with the institute for seven years, and a devoted fan of LOST for six.