Should “secret” in “Secret Millionaire” be true?
There’s a new show out called “Secret Millionaire.” I watched it on Hulu and enjoyed it ... with one reservation, but we’ll get to that. The premise for this reality show is that a millionaire who is not famous goes into some American city and scopes out the opportunity for volunteering. The producers must line this up in advance. While there, they dress to blend in and live in some little place in the neighborhood. They go to various non profit organizations and volunteer for a day and at the end of the week, they give out $100,000 or so of their own money. Apparently, they set their own priorities of which group will get what, based on which gives the most bang for the buck.
The part of the show that I love is seeing humble, invisible people giving their lives in the service of others. In the premier, we met twin sisters who run a soup kitchen but serve up fantastic home-cooked meals. Another group collects unused and unneeded musical instruments, and trains under-privileged kids to play them. Several of their students were going on to musical careers and had hope and promise of a bright future. Another group decorates bedrooms for dangerously ill children. The second show showed us a neighborhood patrol, a second chance for high school drop outs that rebuilds inner city Detroit, and a dialysis patient who organizes rides for other dialysis patients. He said that often patients have to wait hours before someone can pick them up from the center.
The fun of the show is deciding how much I would give to each of those organization and which one has the most impact. The cool thing is that when the millionaire gives them his personal checks and states the amount, they almost invariably say, “You have no idea how many people we can help with this money,” or “Now we can do such and such for so and so.”
I also note the effect it has on me. It turns my thoughts to how I can help.I find that I identify more with those volunteers in the community that were doing what they do before the cameras got there.(Maybe because I’m not a millionaire) I want to reach out and make a difference. Can it be that network TV has come up with a show that inspires viewers to be more like Jesus? Can it be that there is truly no underlying diabolical motive for airing this show? Next week I’m going to pay more attention to who the advertisers are and see who benefits financially from this show.
My only reservation about this show is the charge Jesus gave against doing “alms before men.” He said public givers who sound a trumpet, (or roll a camera) have their reward. But then again, when I’m a better person for having watched the show, does the good outweigh the drawback of publicity? Is there a time and place for publicity in alms-giving? Is it appropriately handled in this instance? I’ll be interested to see what you all (that’s ya’ll to us Southerners) think on this subject. If you can, watch Secret Millionaire on Hulu
http://www.hulu.com/watch/223330/secret-millionaire-marc-paskin-detroit-mich (this is for the second episode but you can access the first from there), and tell Chocolatecreamcenters readers what you think and noticed. Feel free to share the link with others by clicking the icon at the bottom for email or facebook. I want this show to succeed, but only heard about it through a shared link.