Clay and Ruben Save the Universe

For the past three months I have watched American Idol and become more and more convinced that we have been witnessing something more than a television show about a singing competition. I began to watch it because my son, who is 10, loved it and it is one of the few things he still wants to do with me.

As the weeks went by I started to be very glad that my son was seeing role models like Clay and Ruben. My son is intelligent, creative, compassionate, and not tremendously athletic. I tremble to think what he will go through as a teenager in a world that tries to push men into a very narrow image of what a man should be. Yet, here, on our very own television, were two men who kept getting millions of votes every week by being intelligent, creative, compassionate, and not tremendously athletic. Better yet, they are both proud of who they are and have no intentions of changing for anyone. Both Clay and Ruben are the best role models for young men on television I can think of.

As the weeks went on, an amazing thing happened. A nation that is fed images of men that are all about violence and indifference to others began to vote for Ruben and Clay by the millions. Over the years, I have come to believe that "what the world really needs now" are people who are comfortable balancing the male and female qualities that we all have.

It is not either men or women who have created the disastrous environmental and hate-ridden situation in which we all find ourselves. It is the lack of respect for those positive qualities of compassion, relationship, creativity, and nurturing that are inherent in both men and women but which so many people of both genders have trouble expressing that is at the root of much suffering. Conversely, out-of-control competition, greed, and the love of power are leading to catastrophe. Many of us believe that the world is in a time when a balance is being achieved, but sometimes it seems so slow as to be invisible. Rarely do I see any evidence of real change.

So, imagine my surprise when I saw millions of people vote for Clay and Ruben, who are about as close to the ideal of positive male energy as you can get, week after week. Imagine my astonishment when, even as the producers were pumping up the competition and trying to turn the show into a showdown, Clay and Ruben were saying that they would be happy no matter who won and hugging each other with remarkable frequency. They cried. They said "I love you" to one another. They embraced not only their own mothers, but each other's mothers. They proved that not only were the judges wrong about what America's real idols look like, but also that America values the quality of balance that Clay and Ruben so genuinely possess.

The recent past has not been a hopeful time. However much I try to believe that the world is going in the right direction, most of the time I worry that my son will not grow up in a world that anyone would want to live in. Who would have thought my faith in our future would be reborn on the Fox network with two guys who can really sing?

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