One of many saddest issues about Blue Bloods coming to an finish is that it teaches life classes with out being moralistic.
Frank Reagan is a strolling instance of the best way to dwell your life, whereas Henry likes to share his knowledge together with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Blue Bloods‘ 14 seasons have been filled with knowledge, power, and different values which have helped me dwell my life higher, which is without doubt one of the causes it’s my favourite present.
True Power Comes From Residing In accordance To Your Values No Matter What
One foremost theme of Blue Bloods’ 14 seasons is Frank’s refusal to do something that he doesn’t suppose is correct.
He’s like an old-time Western hero, residing by his personal ethical code whatever the private penalties.
His selections usually seem to be they need to tank his profession or no less than do critical political injury.
He gained’t stand subsequent to a mayor at a press convention touting a coverage he opposes and isn’t above making public statements in opposition to what he sees as egregious missteps by these above him.
But Frank is just about untouchable, having survived as Commissioner below 5 completely different mayors, none of whom appreciated the obstacles he put of their paths.
That’s as a result of his integrity makes him somebody others admire, and his insistence on placing what is correct above what’s politically expedient has made him so well-liked that it could be political suicide for any mayor to fireside him.
Disagreement Doesn’t Have To Imply Division
One of many issues I really like about Blue Bloods is that it unites a divided nation by specializing in the characters and never on whether or not they all maintain the “proper” opinions.
The Reagan household dinners, in addition to the best way hot-button points are dealt with on the present, mannequin a future wherein individuals who have completely different factors of view are nonetheless cherished simply the identical, even when they disagree passionately on points.
Through the first 10 seasons, Nicky held utterly reverse views from everyone else within the Reagan household. Frank disagreed together with her views and was not afraid to criticize them, however that had nothing to do with how he felt about Nicky or about their relationship.
One in every of Frank’s golden guidelines is that when the household involves the desk, they should keep in mind they’re household FIRST. Irrespective of how a lot they struggle or disagree, love is rarely conditional on settlement.
This identical grace prolonged to Frank’s mates.
Irrespective of what number of instances he bought irritated with Archbishop Keanes, he would all the time do not forget that they had been mates for a cause.
Frank won’t ever discard a relationship over disagreements, which is uncommon in in the present day’s society.
Make Household Time A Precedence
Blue Bloods’ 14 seasons have included a household dinner scene in each episode.
On uncommon events, the dinner didn’t happen at dwelling, however there was no episode that minimize it out altogether as a result of it was too vital to the characters and to the collection’ message concerning the significance of household.
These dinner scenes are the preferred a part of the present, and so they additionally assist educate the life lesson about making household a precedence in our busy lives.
Frank anticipated everybody to come back to dinner except they’d a very good cause to skip it, like being hospitalized. (Linda bought a move when she was shot, although even then, Frank introduced the dinner desk to her and Danny by a cellphone name and a catered meal.)
He additionally had a no-phones-at-the-table rule. Household time was about household, not about sitting collectively whereas misplaced in social media or texts with somebody unrelated.
This demonstrates HOW to make household a precedence. High quality over amount, and ensuring that the household will get collectively no less than as soon as every week, with out fail.
Most Social Issues Are Too Complicated To Match In A Field
Some advocates for police reform name Blue Bloods “copaganda,” which means that it’s propaganda meant to make individuals uncritically settle for the police as saviors of society.
That perception is an enormous a part of the issue in society in the present day. It’s too straightforward to take an issue reminiscent of racism in policing and cut back it to “cops are unhealthy; each one who has a unfavorable encounter with the police is an harmless sufferer.”
Blue Bloods’ 14 seasons have demonstrated how harmful that kind of oversimplified pondering is.
The present’s mission has by no means been to show law enforcement officials into objects of worship however to indicate the NYPD pretty, each the nice and the unhealthy.
By exhibiting cops as human — together with some who’re so corrupt they turn out to be murderers, like Sonny Malevsky — Blue Bloods teaches the lesson that it doesn’t assist resolve issues to take a look at issues in such stark phrases.
It’s a precept that may be generalized to many different points in life. I wrestle with that typically as a result of my autistic mind loves all-or-nothing pondering, however I attempt to make a aware effort to observe what I’ve realized from Blue Bloods.
Grief Works In Stunning Methods And You Want To Keep Self-Conscious
Grief has, sadly, been central to the Reagans’ existence for Blue Bloods’ 14 seasons.
Joe Reagan was already useless earlier than the collection started, and the primary season concerned the investigation into what occurred to him.
When Sonny Malevsky admitted he killed Joe earlier than ending his personal life, the Reagans had their solutions, however that didn’t make them really feel any higher, demonstrating that grief shouldn’t be one thing that may be solved by understanding why it occurred.
All through the subsequent 14 years, the Reagans have confronted their grief courageously. They’ve gone on as greatest as they will, although Joe’s dying will all the time make them really feel like one thing is lacking.
Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 14 taught us one thing else about grief, too: something can set off it, however it’s the way you deal with these triggers that issues.
Frank and Henry didn’t deal with it nicely when The Irish Society rescinded Danny’s award.
Henry was glad as a result of Joe had gotten the identical award proper earlier than he died, whereas Frank hoped that the household being there to see Danny get it could make up for Joe’s being awarded posthumously.
Surprisingly, one of the best life lesson on this one got here from Danny, who determined to show the award down as a result of he needed to honor Joe’s reminiscence as a substitute.
The household met at Joe’s favourite restaurant, which they hadn’t visited since his dying, and toasted him, which confirmed that one of the simplest ways to take care of grief is to honor the reminiscence of the person who you misplaced and that it’s vital, to not cease doing issues that remind you of them.
Cherish Each Day You’ve Been Given
Over Blue Bloods’ 14 seasons, there have been a number of episodes coping with Henry’s potential well being issues.
(Hopefully, he makes it to the finale! It could be horrible if he died earlier than the collection ended.)
Henry has stated on a number of events that he’s grateful for waking up each morning.
He is aware of that he’s in his 80s and that his days are numbered, however as a substitute of letting that be a supply of sorrow, he tries to remain grateful for the time he has left.
You don’t need to be in your 80s to undertake his philosophy. Being grateful to be alive additionally means benefiting from every day, which is simpler stated than finished.
Individuals’s Destructive Opinions Of You Are Actually About Themselves
That is one which I’ve picked up from some current episodes of Blue Bloods.
Two separate individuals in current weeks have accused Frank of planning to blackmail them, which is a laughable cost.
Frank has an excessive amount of integrity to ever do something like that, but each Mayor Chase and Grace Edwards thought that’s what he was doing.
Grace’s accusation was essentially the most ridiculous.
She assumed that when he informed her about different cops who bought the Irish Society Award regardless of lower than stellar disciplinary data, his level was that he would make that public if she didn’t do what he needed.
Blackmail simply isn’t one thing Frank would do, so it by no means occurred to him that his statistics, which he gathered to indicate Grace that she was a hypocrite, might come throughout as a menace.
The one cause Grace might have thought that was that she would do one thing like that. Both that or she’d had unhealthy experiences with blackmailers that had left her traumatized.
Both means, her accusations stated extra about her than about him, and we should always all do not forget that when coping with others’ opinions of us.
Worth Outcomes Over Optics
Lots of Frank’s disagreements with the mayor or the Dream Crew contain different individuals who care an excessive amount of about optics.
As he stated on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 16, “Optics don’t put unhealthy guys behind bars.”
Frank doesn’t care about how issues look. All through Blue Bloods’ 14 seasons, his precedence has been insurance policies that get the outcomes he needs.
That is partially a matter of integrity. Insurance policies that make it seem like the police division is doing one thing don’t profit anybody, particularly in the event that they go in opposition to division values.
It’s additionally a great way to method decision-making. How one thing appears shouldn’t be a excessive precedence; selections can and must be made based mostly on what’s greatest and what can be more likely to obtain what you’re making an attempt to realize.
The Significance of Public Service
Police work is greater than a job for the Reagans. It’s a calling.
They turned cops (and, in Erin’s case, a lawyer) for the suitable causes. They imagine within the Biblical commandment to “Love your neighbor as your self,” and so they try this by being wonderful public servants who do their greatest to assist individuals.
No line in Blue Bloods’ 14 seasons has given me extra chills than Frank’s admonition to Mayor Chase throughout Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 13 to “serve the individuals of this metropolis, not your egos.”
That sums up all the pieces Frank stands for, and it’s an vital life lesson that has gotten misplaced in all of the preventing on this bitterly divided nation.
Politicians usually are not the one ones who ought to try to place their egos apart (although many might stand to study that lesson). All of us ought to commonly ask ourselves if we’re doing sufficient to assist others or if we’re simply feeding our egos.
Make Amends When You Screw Up Even If It’s Onerous
That is one which Erin Reagan epitomizes.
There have been a number of episodes over Blue Bloods’ 14 seasons the place Erin involves the painful realization that she has labored to place an harmless individual in jail.
Each time that occurs, Erin does all the pieces she will to make it proper.
She reopens the case and fights for justice, even when it’ll damage her profession or antagonize her boss.
Hopefully, our errors aren’t costing individuals their freedom, however it’s nonetheless vital to take possession of our errors and do what we are able to to make amends.
Talk Truthfully And Straight With The Individuals You Love
The Reagans are individuals who aren’t afraid to ask for what they need, no less than not more often than not.
Danny was, rightfully, aggravated together with his household in the course of the Irish Society award incident as a result of everybody else bought collectively and mentioned what to do about his award being rescinded with out speaking to him.
The household’s intentions had been good.
They figured since Danny didn’t know he was up for the award within the first place, they might spare him ache by not mentioning it to him.
Nonetheless, after they lastly introduced it up, it backfired. He felt your complete household was gossiping about him and didn’t recognize it.
That was a powerful lesson within the worth of open, sincere communication with others, particularly individuals you like.
Conserving secrets and techniques or enjoying video games doesn’t work very nicely and solely finally ends up hurting individuals’s emotions, no matter your intentions.
Resilience Comes From Dealing with Issues Head-On
Resilience, or the flexibility to bounce again from setbacks, is one thing I strongly affiliate with the Reagans.
Despite the fact that another characters suppose the Reagans are an American dynasty that may’t be touched, nothing may very well be farther from the reality.
Throughout Blue Bloods’ 14 seasons, there have been many instances when the Reagans had been judged extra harshly due to who Frank is.
They by no means let that, or different setbacks, get to them. That’s as a result of they’re used to dealing with challenges head-on, which provides them the arrogance to know they will overcome any impediment of their paths.
It’s Necessary To Study All Sides Of An Concern Earlier than Judging
If there’s one fixed all through Blue Bloods’ 14 seasons, it’s that nothing is ever precisely the way it appears.
Sid’s breaking the residency rule on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15 was just one instance. Though he was in violation of the coverage, he did it as a result of his mom was dying.
In different episodes, Frank should determine whether or not a cop made a tragic mistake or intentionally damage a civilian.
In each case, he should contemplate extenuating circumstances and the knowledge out there when a cop needed to decide.
That’s one of many issues that makes his job onerous. Equity dictates that he take a look at the problem from a number of views to attempt to get to the reality earlier than figuring out if a cop did something improper and what to do about it in the event that they did.
Study From Your Heroes, However Don’t Worship Them
Hero worship shouldn’t be a factor for the Reagans.
Frank admires Teddy Roosevelt, even fashioning his mustache after the well-known President.
Nonetheless, he’s clear-eyed. He is aware of Teddy Roosevelt’s historical past and takes the teachings from it he can with out turning him right into a false god who can do no improper.
That is equally true of individuals the Reagans encounter of their day by day lives.
Frank has typically been heartbroken to study {that a} cop he admired was behaving corruptly or in any other case dishonoring the badge.
Much more importantly, each Reagan has needed to face the truth that nobody of their household is ideal. One in every of my favourite examples is the hilarious second when Henry shares that he and his spouse as soon as went to a nudist colony.
Nobody needed to listen to that, and it shattered their picture of Henry to study he’d finished such a factor.
Equally, Frank’s quest for integrity can typically be inadvertently hurtful when he’s so targeted on different values that he forgets the impact his selections can have on his household.
These tales remind us that no one is ideal and that even nice leaders like Frank must be seen as fallible human beings, not demigods to be worshipped.
Over to you, Blue Bloods fanatics.
What have you ever realized about life throughout Blue Bloods’ 14 seasons?
Hit the feedback and tell us.
Blue Bloods’ ultimate two episodes will air on CBS on Fridays at 10/9c and on Paramount+ on Saturdays. The collection finale can be broadcast on December 13, 2024.
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