Not as seen on TV

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

    The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

1 Corinthians 12:14-26

NIV

I enjoy the TV show Bones .  Its not one of those fanatical devotions like I border on for  Serenity/Firefly("I aim to misbehave!").  I enjoy the geeky side of with all the 'squints' using there various scientific disciplines to bring different information to the situation until they catch the bad guy.   

Even more than that I enjoy the interplay of the characters.  Most of the characters are prototypically left-brained analytical types, with a couple of right-brained intuitive types thrown in to balance them out.  You have a religious character and a specifically nonreligious character, a socially impaired intellectual and a interpersonally savvy artist, a nice cross-section of personalities and capabilities. They are presented with complicated problems that require them to all bring their gifts to the table and provide a piece of the puzzle that none of the others can touch.  None of them can get the job done by themselves.  They need each other.

One of the things I appreciate the most about the show is the situations in which a point is glaringly obvious from one character's viewpoint, but the others can't see it unless it is explained to them in detail.  One of them might pick up a behavioral cue, or a subtlety of the physical evidence, and another character simply does not have the frame of reference to even understand the point, much less understand its significance.  They're specific places in the world allow them to see some things with crystal clarity, leaving them completely blind to others.   Despite this, they all get along.  They don't seem to take deep offense at another's observations, or lack there of.

I don't know about you, gentle (or not so gentle) reader, but living in community doesn't seem to be this consistently clean and pleasant in real life.  I'm occasionally involved in a situation that the different players present experience in different ways. One person may see a particular interaction as particularly profitable, while another might think it laughable or even negative in nature.  What one sees as being of value another one sees as ridiculous or meaningless.  

Now, I'm not saying this to dismiss those that can't understand what I'm saying.  I've been the one devaluing the thoughts of another before.  Sometimes I hear people say things that are no doubt meaningful to them, and even others present, but I have absolutely no idea what the hell they are talking about.  Or I may view their thoughts as ignorant or unevolved, and consequently not worthy of my consideration.  Ok, who the hell am I?  Just because I can't see the value or rationale behind something that in no way means that it doesn't exist.

I need these people.  I'm not even close to being omniscient (yet), and they all bring something to the table that I can't.  They all provide pieces of the puzzle that I can't get a hand on myself.  Just because I can't see something on first blush does not mean it doesn't have value. Hell, if God can speak through a jackass, I imagine God can use a friend or coworker.