Inspired to Keep Trying

The Real O’Neals is a show on ABC about an Irish Catholic family that is kind of a mess. I have read all over Catholic social media about how this show mocks the Catholic faith and how it’s offensive. I watched the pilot episode and wasn’t offended but I thought maybe I had missed something so I watched both episodes this past week. I’m still not offended.

First, I don’t understand the idea of being offended by a show if you don’t watch it. That makes zero sense to me. I get watching something and then being offended, but to just take someone else’s word for it, to jump on a bandwagon or to answer the “be offended” bell is just crazy to me.

Second, I have talked to people who say that it’s not offensive per se but that it’s not funny or just bad writing. I can respect those opinions because humor and writing are a matter of taste. That is why we all like different music. I personally like anything that sounds good to me, I don’t care how sophisticated it is or if everyone says that I’m an idiot for liking it. I watch the Kardashians, so yeah; I am not really a bandwagon kind of person. I also have a crazy sense of humor. If there is one thing that I am thankful for about my past it is that I was exposed to funny people and comedy has always helped me deal with life. I get that not everyone has the same taste in comedy; I don’t think that if someone doesn’t get the same things as me to be funny that makes them less of a person than me. I just get that it’s a difference of opinion.

Third, maybe we should talk about how we react to our children coming out of the closet. If we want to be pissed about a show that is talking about it because we feel they are mocking us, then maybe we should have the conversation about how do we deal with it in real life instead of trying to kill any discussion on the subject as scandalous.

I don’t find this show to be offensive, I don’t think it mocks anything about my faith and I find it hilarious. This is why: it looks a lot like my family. I really was the kind of Catholic mother and wife who thought that I could make a Catholic to-do list and my family would be great and wonderful Catholics. I have a child who recently told me they are gay, one that is an atheist with two kids out of wedlock, one that suffers with ADD and depression, one that is severely codependent, a couple with issues we don’t really know what to label and one that has been arrested multiple times at school. I exhausted myself trying to be the kind of Catholic wife and mother that I saw others being thinking there was some great Catholic formula to making sure that my kids turned out to be holy. Well guess what? I have great kids. They get on my every last damn nerves, but they are great kids.

Example of how my household works: (This just happened this morning, so it is fresh in my mind)

The grown adult who lives here without working and has a car asked me for gas money to take another kid to work. Mind you, he takes 3 hour showers and uses the WiFi for free since he is no longer employed. The 17 year old and the 14 year old got into a war over who is meaner to the other so the 17 year old kicked the 14 year old out of his room, the 14 year old slammed the door and texted me saying how unfair life is because she doesn’t have a PS3 in her room. They are at war and I’m the one who has to just nod my head and let them sort it out. In the middle of that, the 14 year old comes in my room freaking out because he hates fighting and slamming doors, it reminds him of when his dad and I did that. Then the 21 ½ year old with two kids out of wedlock and lives across town had to drop his life and come over here to take the 17 year old to work, because I refuse to give the  grown adult, living here for free, gas money. Meanwhile my husband is out doing a fire-ant job (he owns a pest control company) in a truck that he can’t put in park because a fuse keeps blowing and if he puts it in park he won’t be able to put it in drive again and will be stranded. He took the other 16 year old with him who just told me how his week went. In case you wanna know, it was a horrible week he said because one of his friends got into a huge fight where the school ended up in lockdown.

Ya’ll, compared to my family, the O’Neals look like a stable family. Maybe that is why I don’t feel mocked or am offended? I feel like I am not the only Catholic in the world with a hot mess on my hands. It gives me hope and I’ll be walking to confession today for the first time in over a month because while everyone else is being offended, I feel inspired to get back up and keep trying.