I watched the last three episodes of Breaking Bad again and saw yet more of the profundity of the show. For four seasons and 15 episodes, Walt said that he did it all "for his family." In the last episode, he sees Skylar for the last time, and he's giving his parting words. She says: "Don't tell me that..." (obviously going to say--don't tell me that you did it for all our family). Walt surprises her and all of us with his truthfulness: "I did it for me. I enjoyed it. I was really good at it." Earlier in the episode, Walt recalls a birthday celebration before it all began when Hank said: "Walt, get a little excitement in your life. Come with me when we bust a Meth lab." Of course, it was due to Walt's ride-along on such a bust that he met Jesse, and so began his life of crime. Walt delved further and further into the criminal world--all the while telling himself that he was doing it for his family.
How blind we all are--in so many areas of our lives. For men, it's often a blindness to the role that work plays in our lives. We define ourselves through work. If we're successful in work, we have a meaningful identity. We become Heisenbergs. Yet, we tell ourselves that we're chiefly working to provide for our families. As we grow older and look back upon our lives, we realize that the work often superseded the real needs of our families--to have a present, kind, loving father--such as Walter started out. If we're fortunate, God reveals this blindness to us while we can still change.
Over the years, my view of God's grace has grown and grown and grown. Now, when I read the Old Testament, I read it as one acquainted with Christ and His strange love. He loved not the good, but the bad; not the strong, but the weak; not the successful, but the failures; not the well, but the sick; not the upright church-go'ers, but the Jimmy Hale Mission-go'ers. Indeed He loves all, but the good, strong, successful, well, and upright people can't recognize His love until they first realize that they are sinners. That's why Jesus upbraids the Pharisees time, and time, and time again.
As displayed in WW, one of man's chief sins is to place work above everything else. And, all the while, we delude ourselves into thinking we're doing it for our families. So, in order for man to recognize the idolatry inherent in placing work number one, as told in Genesis, God placed "thorns and thistles" in the earth that man was tilling. This is almost always spoken of as a curse--as a bad thing. In fact, it's the opposite. Eventually the thorns and thistles in our work--whether it's being passed over for a job promotion, having a difficult boss, representing ungrateful people, or the milieu of other negative repercussions of work--cause us to realize that work is not the "be all and end all." It is not how we are to define ourselves. Work is meant for us to enjoy, for us to provide for our families, but not for us to worship.
With Walter White, it took the complete devastation of his criminal enterprise, of all of his work, for him to come to this realization. By God's grace, may we be less blind than WW.
By the way, in a recent interview, Bryan Cranston intimated that there might be more BB. Let's hope so!
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