by TR Lore

Created on: April 09, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2010

Soap operas.

They have been around for a very long time. Guiding Light has been on the air for 75 years! That, of course, includes the show's radio days. So what is it about soaps that keeps so many people coming back and tuning in day after day? After all, they do have a well earned reputation for being absurd and sappy.

I watch soaps. I enjoy them. They are a distraction for me from the chaotic stew that I regularly refer to as my life.

But, there is something else. There is the innate humanness to the characters. Yes, the stories tend to be absurd and overly scandalous, but it is the moments when the characters display feelings and sentiments that we, as everyday people, can fully relate to that, brings us back.

The writers often try to point us towards hope in the storylines, but they are not afraid to simply have lessons learned rather than the happy ending every time. At this point I will use a soliloquy from All My Children to make my case.

The situation leading up to this discussion was this: Dr. Greg Madden stole Tad Martin's daughter just after she was born. The evil doctor refused to tell anyone where the little girl was. Tad's cheese flew off his cracker, so naturally, he kidnapped Madden, locked him in a box and buried the guy alive (we had seen so much evil from this dude that most of us viewers stood up and cheered) and tried to make the schmuck spill the beans. An unexpected earthquake killed the doc, Tad lost his only means of finding his child, and he essentially slid down a crap spiral into what was apparently the seventh layer of hell. His loss and his guilt were devouring him. When a friend decided to talk to him about the dark funk he was in, this was his reply, which was delivered with an almost eerie complacency, was softly understated, and smacked of truth.

"Tad Martin is dead. Let him rest in peace. He was buried with Greg Madden. You think you can help me? Save me? Can you cleanse a tainted soul? I'm in hell. I am right where I should be, every minute, of every day. I'm in hell. Where somebody like me belongs, I know, because the voices in my head tell me all about it.
Everything I was, everything I ever had or ever will have, is dead and gonebecause I buried it. I made a choice. I took a chance, and I traded away my soul. That's who I am.
Are we gonna stand around and talk about God now? What do you want me to do? You want me to fall to my knees, start praying, weeping, and confessing my sins? Why should I? God knows all about it,

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