After six years, the television show, Lost is coming to an end.  It is an amazingly complicated show, with a devout fan base, and the reactions of that fan base, especially as it comes to an end, show us the two choices we have to living life.

Those who haven’t watched Lost for six years generally just shake their heads and are totally, well, lost.  It started as a plane crash on a deserted island.  Then it incorporated flashbacks into the lives of the passengers before the crash, then flash-forwards into their lives after some of them escaped the island, time travel, flash-sideways into an alternate timeline and a deep pseudo-science/mythology that’s slowly being revealed after many mysteries and hints over six years.  If you haven’t followed it for most of its run, it’s a tough show to get into.  Kind of like life (although we only time travel in one direction).

At the same time, Lost is a powerful character story, delving into the lives and personalities of the core characters who you really come to care for and about.  It’s amazingly well-written.

Over the six years, the show has created mystery after mystery, and much of the fan base is looking for answers as the show ends.  AndI think that’s totally the wrong way to look at this show, as it is the wrong way to look at life.  The show is not about the answers to all the mysteries – it’s about the journey.  How did you feel over the six years of the show?  Did you get excited?  Did you get angry?  Were you sad?  Lost has created some incredible hours of drama (many of them in this last season – episode after episode blew fans away).  That’s the value of this journey – not the answers to all the riddles, but rather the ride itself.

Just like life – it’s not the goal that matters.  We never will end life with all the answers.  It’s how we lived each moment. Did we live each moment sucking it to the marrow for everything it gave us, or were we focused on some undefined future that we may or may not achieve – and if we do achieve it, that passes in moments?

The value of Lost is in the amazing journey it afforded us, and kudos to Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof (known to Lost fandom as ‘Darlton’) for creating such a landmark series that has already left television changed for all time.  I’ve enjoyed the journey and am delighted to live these final few hours out for all they offer.  Hats off to you, gentlemen!

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