Heartland
Or maybe three.
First, the simple, uncomplicated moral innocence of the show is a comfort to me. I long for a time when virtues like integrity, fidelity and honesty are again considered general virtues that society expects of people.
They once were. I remember those days, when you could count on an agreement that was sealed with only a handshake. Moral behavior was expected and people in that time rose to that expectation. In Heartland, when one of the characters stumbles or falls--when a character breaks the moral rules and lies, or is unfaithful in love--the lapse is recognized as a stumble or a fall, and there are disastrous consequences.
These COVID days have brought out the best and the worst in us all. We may have stumbled and fallen in many ways, but we have also gone out of our way to care for our neighbours, and we have also learned to live on less and care about things that are of real value. But our society still reels from the effects of our rejection of traditional moral values.
In this past year, integrity has become the victim of political expediency. There certainly have to be public figures who are faithful to their calling as public servants--who speak the truth and are faithful in their service. But so many conflicting "facts" being promoted by all our media sources have destroyed our foundational confidence in the integrity of government as well as in public discourse.
As for fidelity, we scold public figures for forcing unwanted sex on women, and rightly so, but we say nothing about infidelity in their marriages, or in ours. The only rule restricting sexual behavior in this moral climate is the rule that sex should always be by mutual consent. Other than that, anything goes when it comes to the act that used to be considered sacred because of the beautiful picture it is of the faithful, intimate, caring love that has always existed between the Creator and His creation, and also because of its direct connection with the creation of other human beings.
And when it comes to honesty, no one even talks anymore about the way things 'should' be. It's only about the way things 'are'. "Well," we say, "if you leave your purse on the seat of your unlocked car, what do you expect? That was a stupid thing to do." Now, in the 21st century, stupidity is seen as a worse sin than stealing.
There are other reasons for the strings between my heart and Heartland. My longing is a longing for the past, not only morally, but geographically. My growing up years in rural America, as well as my seven years of living in Alberta, left me with an enduring love for the simple, rural life.
Those years were not pain-free. There is always pain and frustration and restlessness in growing up. But the nostalgia is there, in the Ponderosa pine forests of Northern Arizona that I grew up in as a young person, and in the shadow of the Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta where Heartland is filmed and where we raised our toddlers.
The nostalgia is there, and it can be a kind of pain in itself. As if it was a perfect setting, but not quite perfect. A perfect time, but not quite.
In fact, I think my longing is more deeply rooted in a longing for heaven. An old song we used to sing in church says, "This world is not my home, I'm just passing through." No matter what sweet memories I have of the past in this life, there is still a reaching for something more, as if I'm on a journey through this life and have not yet reached my final destination. In heaven, only, will the ideal be realized.
All that gives me pleasure in this life is passing. But all the deep happiness I remember experiencing in fleeting moments--these things are what heaven will be like, not in fleeting moments but in one constant, eternal present--all the deep joy and none of the sorrow. When that eternal moment comes for me, the tears of the past will be wiped away. All the nostalgia will find its final satisfaction, and I will find my Heartland.
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