After many outstanding reviews from some friends, I finally caved and started watching the new show “This Is Us.” People had been telling me that it was “actually deep” and a “real” show, unlike most of the ones we see while flipping through the channels nowadays.
I was hooked after the first episode. Whoever came up with the plot is just plain brilliant. I knew the characters for only 30 minutes and I was already crying! Now of course, like most shows, there are some decisions the characters make that are not in line with Catholic teaching, but the show portrays real life issues and struggles that we all face. You either like what you see or you learn from it, as my mom would say.
“This Is Us” is about a young couple who’s pregnant with triplets and the struggles they face on their journey as first-time parents. That’s all I will say regarding the plot because I don’t want to be the one to spoil it for you!
Now I am only nine episodes in, but something has really stood out to me from this show. As they go back and forth from present to past, slowly you start putting together the pieces to a much larger puzzle. You begin to see how every decision a character made affected everyone else. You get to see how someone giving up their baby affected another couple’s struggling marriage, and how someone mourning the loss of his wife can affect a young couple who lost a baby.
From reflecting on this show, it made me think about how intertwined my own life is with so many others and how each of my actions affect so many people in ways that I will never know on this side of heaven. Our smallest actions, whether positive or negative, can change the entire future of another person.
I am a firm believer that God puts everyone in our lives for a reason and, like this show, we may not be able to put together all the pieces of the puzzle, until we are seeing it played back with Jesus by our side. Only then will we be able to finally see how we have affected every other person that we have encountered. Every one of our words and actions have a ripple effect.
So, the question we should ask ourselves is this: What kind of waves are we making on this earth?
–Tricia
Tricia and Nikki Walz are proud Minnesotans who were born and raised in the heart of St. Cloud with their younger sister Briana. Read more about them on the “Meet Our Bloggers” page.