Did you ever watch New Amsterdam?

New Amsterdam is one of my background shows. It’s a network medical drama, which means it is not usually too deep. I can put the show on in the background when I am folding laundry or going through paperwork. You don’t need to pay 100% attention to the show because it is quite easy to figure out what is going on.

New Amsterdam is set at a fictional hospital in NYC- however the real place it is based on is just down the block from my apartment. What’s fun about this is it’s often filmed in my neighborhood. Random fact: the wardrobe trailers were on my block last week- I saw Iggy’s and Bloom’s and Casey’s trailers…was tempted to knock but I was with the dog…

But anyway…

I watch New Amsterdam.

One episode last spring focused on the vaccine. The fridge were they were storing the vials broke, and they had a limited amount of time to use the doses. Max, the protagonist Chief of the hospital, suggested a social media outreach to get people in to get them vaccinated as quickly as possible.

This strategy worked as soon there were people lined up to get their shot. Middle class people, mainly not persons of color.

Max, the picture of liberal do gooder, was not satisfied with the people on the line. He didn’t want to distribute the vaccine to middle class people because he felt that there was no barrier to them getting vaccinated. He wanted to reach the people who, he thought, really needed it.

So he went to low income areas to try to get them to come out and get vaxxed. Turns out most of them were vaxxed already…

In the end, much of the vaccine expired and needed to be thrown away.

Take whatever moral that you want from this story…

But I must ask…

Even though some people proudly wear the liberal crown, and vow to fight for justice for all, are some of these do gooders really just saying that they know what’s best for everyone? That everyone should follow the path that they follow? That there is only one way to do things, and it’s the way that they do it?

Doesn’t being treated equally mean that we all have the right to do what we do and do not want, bounded by the laws of society?

Does being treated equally mean that you should be told how to act?

Can extreme do-goodism even be classified as policing? Do it my way or else?

Max has a tagline- “How can I help?”. His goal is to make things better…And it’s a well meaning goal- don’t we all love the image of the knight galloping in on his trusty stead, armed and ready to right the wrongs? Don’t we all love a super hero?

But, you know, reality…

In the fictional setting of the show, Max very often gets his comeuppance. His idealized utopia is often met with harsh reality. Every week we see how Max, in his attempt to fix the problems of the world, takes a step backwards.

Max’s way might not be the right way…

The question I’m left with is:

In a world where we want to fix things, who is to say how they should be fixed?