Monday, June 01, 2009

Just the ten of us...

I know that probably most of you are so done with Jon and Kate and their eight. I wish I could say that I am. The truth is that I have watched them for a while and I really enjoy the show.

Over Memorial Day weekend, TLC had a marathon of the show and I watched some of it. While I was ironing, I paid close attention to the Season 4 finale, where Jon is pretty clear that he is not happy with TLC filming their lives and that he needs a break from the cameras. Kate dismisses Jon's comments saying that of course they'll be back for season 5.

For all of the nonsense that they have been through in the last couple of months, I am sorry. Jon's behavior that was captured by the "press" is not excusable. Neither is the disdain Kate displays for her husband on national TV.

But to watch the two of them together last week was really painful for me. I see them spending time apart when they should be together. I found myself wishing repeatedly that they would send the cameras back to the network and work on being a normal family again; work on being a married woman and man again.

I'm not in their marriage. I know what they have let us all see of their marriage. And I don't know what we haven't seen. What I do see is a woman who is very happy to be on TV and is clearly enjoying the perks that come with celebrity and having money (such as trips to San Diego on the spur of the moment- that was tonight's episode). I see a woman who wants to give her children the chance for different experiences (Kate's words from the Season 4 finale). I see a man whose wife won't listen to him.

I understand wanting to give your children more than you had growing up. That is what all parents want to do for their kids. But at what cost? Your marriage, your children's strong foundation, breaking apart? In the season premiere, both Kate and Jon said that they don't know what the future holds, but that they love their kids. I just wanted them to say that they love each other. I want Jon and Kate to say "No matter what, I'll be there for my family. I'll be there for my spouse."

As much as I like their show, I want Kate to give her permission to darken the show until such a time that Jon wants it to continue. Kate said something like (I think in the season 4 finale) that she feels she owes it to America to watch her kids grow up.

Kate, you don't owe me or the rest of America sh*t. Tell them to turn off the cameras and take a good look at your husband, the man with whom you renewed your vows a year or so ago. Yes, he is not perfect. Yes, his judgment is poor. Maybe he betrayed you. Look at him. He wants to stop. Just stop. Listen to St. Paul:
Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should
be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is
head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of
the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be
subordinate to their husbands in everything.
(Ephesians
5:21-24)

Jon, man up. Stop fooling round on the ski slopes and in bars and get back to the business of being a Christian husband and father. Move back into your house (it seems like he has moved out) and work on your marriage. St. Paul has some words for you, too:
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed
himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water
with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor,
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without
blemish. So (also) husbands should love their wives as their own
bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own
flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the
church, because we are members of his body. "For this reason a man
shall leave (his) father and (his) mother and be joined to his wife, and the two
shall become one flesh." (Ephesians 5:22-31)

And to the both of you: In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the
wife should respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:33)

It is my sincere hope that the network is heightening the drama to keep us watching and that Kate and Jon will be together again and working on it by the end of this season. It is my greater hope that they will just darken the show. Either way, I am praying for them and for their kids.

8 comments:

Kate P said...

"On the next episode: Amy G. locks Jon & Kate in a room with St. Paul. And they're gonna listen until he's done."

Wisely put--for what we can tell by the aired content, your response is dead on. You don't help with Pre-Cana, do you? You'd have a lot to teach couples.

Aimee said...

When did you come into my brain and take my thoughts out? Was it last night, because I was thinking all of this last night!! :)

We always did share a brain . . .

T with Honey said...

I love Kate's comment. She said what I was going to write but with more flair that I could ever hope to pull off right now.

Yeah, I hope they read this post or somehow find the words of St. Paul and take them to heart. It could be the one thing that saves their family.

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

I occasionally watched the show, and I did watch the Memorial Day fiasco--with my daughter. That said, I'm done watching. TLC has shown that it's not going to be the grownup here, and clearly Jon & Kate are not being the grownups either. And as long as people WATCH this mess, TLC will show it. So I'm done.

Kate behaves worse than Debra from Everybody Loves Raymond, and it's no secret how I feel about Debra. I don't need that kind of bad example; I am flawed enough all on my own. Give me somebody whose behavior, attitudes and faith I want to emulate.

Amy Giglio said...

Kate, I'd love to help with Pre-Cana, but Scott and I already help with Baptism prep and I do the First Communion and Confirmation stuff. For right now, I'm sticking to the Sacraments of initiation.

Aim, great minds...

T, do you think they stopped going to church? I wonder...

Barb, I totally know what you mean. For me though, J&K+8 is like a train wreck and I just can't stop watching. I am disappointed in TLC, but not surprised. This show is a huge moneymaker for them. it's a business and they are not going to stop making the shows. I think that even if Kate wised up and said, "No more, we're done," they'd remind the Gosselins about a contract and force the recordings until the contract was up.

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

TLC gets scarier by the day. Have you checked their Sunday Night Freak-Show lineup? Well, they don't call it that, but I do.

Robin in New Jersey said...

Hi! I just hoped over here after reading comments at Quiet Life.

I so agree with what you have written here. I was in Shoprite this morning and my 10 year old daughter saw a gossip mag with Jon and a pretty young thing on the cover. She made some comment about him being married and that was bad. Yes, my dear, it is bad.

Amy Giglio said...

I know. The wisdom of the young....