The Beat Of a Different Drummer

You Never Know Until You Try.

As I noted in my last post, I was looking forward to the new television season in large part because of the new Hawaii Five-O. I’m a rabid Alex O’Loughlin fan and was thrilled that he’d been picked to play “Steve McGarrett” in the new show. I loved his previous series, “Moonlight” and “3 Rivers,” but they were cancelled. “Moonlight,” in which Alex played a vampire, won a People’s Choice award for favorite new series, so I don’t know what happened, except maybe the writers’ strike that was going on at the time. I wish the powers that be had given it a little longer, because the very next year, the vampire craze hit; I’m sure “Moonlight” would still be on, riding the wave of vampire mania. Instead, Alex O’Loughlin is riding another wave, or at least heading a show set in Hawaii, where wave riding, aka surfing, is so popular.

What does all that have to do with the title of this post? I’m glad you asked. To be literal, I can talk about drums and drumming and point to the kettle drum in the amazing Hawaii Five-O theme song. More figuratively, though, is the notion of someone marching to a different drumbeat than others—having different “tastes.” “Moonlight” and “3 Rivers” aren’t the only shows I’ve liked that got cancelled; there have been many over the years. It seems that I’ve always fallen into minority status with my likes and dislikes. I’ve loved shows that weren’t the “in” shows and often hated shows that were all the rage. It has been the same with actors—I still fail to see the big deal about a male actor who’s been voted “Sexiest Man Alive.” To each her own, I guess.

Sometimes I get tired of being the salmon swimming upstream, because it can be exhausting. I’m too stubborn to cave in, though. I am who I am. Sometimes, it’s no big deal going against the “norm.” (I wonder, though, if it’s the “norm” or if the proponents of a certain position are just more vocal and visible than opponents—just a thought.) Now and then, my position on something puts me at odds with others, and I encounter verbal chiding, funny looks, or outright hostility.

The Bible declares people who follow God’s commandments to be “peculiar,” meaning “special” (I Peter 2:9; Deuteronomy 14:2, 26:18; Titus 2:14). If we love God and obey Him, we’re special to Him. It seems to me that in a world that supposedly values inclusivity, political correctness, “rights,” expressing and standing up for Christian beliefs makes you the exception to the “live and let live” philosophy bandied about. You get called “narrow-minded,” “bigoted,” or some other less-than-flattering label. You’re certainly not called “special.” It doesn’t help our case when misguided people take certain Scriptures out of context to support their hate-filled agendas. The Bible does state certain black-and-white edicts: don’t steal, etcetera, but even when Scripture clearly calls for punishment of sin, it doesn’t advocate hating the sinner. It’s quite the opposite, in fact, but it’s easy to forget that in the heat of the moment. Like I wrote in my post “Unhelpful Help,” it’s not helpful to criticize people, but it is helpful to lovingly point out another way to behave. As someone who often marches to a different drummer, I’ve been on the receiving end of both approaches. I hope it’s made me more sensitive to and respectful of my fellow marchers, no matter which drummer they’re marching to.