There’s a parable from the show “The West Wing” that resonates with me about living a life of service to others. I’ve used it almost as frequently as I do my favorite Margaret Mead quote. I don’t often get to tell it with the appropriate setup, however, because usually the setup gets in the way of the point.
If you haven’t watched “The West Wing”, it’s from the last few minutes of a second season episode called “Noel.” One of the key characters, Josh Lyman, is suffering from post-traumatic stress as a result of being shot. In the episode he is in a therapy session with a psychologist and when he walks out, his boss, Leo McGarry, is waiting for him. Leo tells him this:
This guy’s walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out.
A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, ‘Hey you. Can you help me out?’ The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.
Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, ‘Father, I’m down in this hole can you help me out?’ The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on
Then a friend walks by, ‘Hey, Joe, it’s me can you help me out?’ And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, ‘Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here.’ The friend says, ‘Yeah, but I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.’”
Leo tells Josh “As long as I have a job, you have a job.” The parable gains something when you realize it’s being told by a character that is a recovering alcoholic, being played by an actor that was a recovering alcoholic, whose lines were written by someone struggling with drugs and alcohol himself. That’s the part I don’t usually get to tell.
Occasionally, you just have to jump in the hole to help someone out.
November 1, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Equally bizarre is that in the show’s final season, Leo has a heart attack.
In real life, actor John Spencer passed away from the same cause before they were through filming their final episodes.
November 1, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Correction: he died of the same cause before they *aired* the final episodes.
November 2, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Actually, they had planned to let Vinick win the election and the story arc was already written. When John Spencer died, they had not shot the final episodes. As a result they made a decision that it would have been too negative of a story line to have Santos lose both the election and Leo, so they re-wrote the arc to have Santos win.
The interesting thing, I think, is how much the West Wing drew from the lives of it’s writers…particularly when Sorkin was writing it. For a better demonstration of that, just watch the one season of “Studio Sixty: Live on Sunset Strip.” It’s a virtual trip inside Sorkin’s life.
November 2, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Too bad Studio Sixty didn’t last.
Its writing was equally good. I especially liked how they approached social topics. Excellent casting too.
I think that it also suffered from some confusion on the part of the viewership since “30 Rock” debuted the same season. Both were takes on a live SNL-type sketch show.