THE BEST EVER! Can probably never be beaten! That is my summation for Survivor Fiji, Episode 13!
I loved Yau-Man and the beautiful example he set of generosity and a big heart! Thank goodness he produced the Turtle just in time!
The goodness and the greatness of Yau-Man made this show the best, and the fact that he was wise enough to play his Immunity Idol before the votes were read, in spite of his obvious hesitation, capped it all off like whipped cream and strawberries on cake! Excellent ending to a great show! "VOTES AGAINST YAU-MAN DO NOT COUNT!" Ah, that that could always be so!
This show probably raised more questions of controversy than any previous episode has ever raised. The first of these is whether Yau-Man was right to give Dreamz the truck in exchange for possible immunity in Final Four competition. The second is whether Dreamz was right to plot for Yau-Man's immediate removal after Yau-Man gave him the truck. Viewers will have conflicting opinions on these questions, questions which will be more heatedly discussed than perhaps any ethical and strategic decisions the show has featured since Colby took Tina to F-2 in Australia and basically gave away his million dollars by being a good guy.
Personally, I loved when Yau-Man gave Dreamz the truck. I hope that's what I'd have done too, but of course it's one of those things we can't know about ourselves unless we could actually be in the same position in which Yau found himself. It's in the hidden area of our Johari Windows: unknown to others, unknown to self. I was saying, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" when Yau did that, and thinking, "I'd do that too! -- I hope!"
Yau got a great deal of personal joy in giving his great gift, and that's wonderful. One of the best and rightest things in the universe is that we can experience great joy when we bless someone else's life with a wonderful gift we are able to give. I could sense that deep-down, happy-sigh-in-the-heart satisfaction Yau had when he could say, "That's the biggest gift I was ever able to give someone!" What a fantastic thing to do! Everyone else owned a vehicle. Dreamz never had one. Didn't Jesus say that if you had two coats, you should give one to someone who had none? And I'll bet whatever vehicle Yau has isn't worth what that new truck was worth! Yau gave his best.
The big question with the gift regards the negotiations. Here's where the debate reigns. Should Yau have been a better bargainer and asked for more? Asked Dreamz not to vote against him in the next three tribal councils? Or to promise never to vote against him? Some other deal? Or -- should a real gift have come with no strings attached? Yau now has critics by the thousands: those who think he did a dumb thing, and those who think that he did a totally selfish thing, trying to buy advancement in the game, and perhaps also trying to buy jury votes in a final decision.
Jurors who think he was trying to buy their votes of admiration might even NOT vote for him for that very reason. I could certainly see Rocky, Lisi, and Stacy reasoning that way, at least. Another memory from my Bible-studying days is from Titus 1:15: "To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted... nothing is pure." So true. People who do things with good motives understand when other people do things with good motives, but people who only know selfish motives always believe that other people's motives are also always suspect and selfish; they cannot believe that there are people who genuinely love to do good things for others, even if the others can do nothing for them in return, such as when we help those who live in third world poverty or who have mental or physical handicaps that preclude their doing favors for us in return. It's what's known as agape love. Some people will never understand it.
To me, Yau-Man is a total hero, a perfect role model. He magnanimously gave a great gift with the primary motivation that he believed Dreamz needed it more than anyone else, and he wanted to change his life. (As Scout has suggested, it is also quite possible that Yau tried to throw the challenge from the beginning so that Dreamz could win. It seems to me that lean, lithe Yau could handle a balance beam better than what we saw in the beginning of that challenge, and he crossed the balance beam okay in part two of the challenge when three people went on. (Yeah, a bit of a slip at the end! I wasn't sure if Jeff would call him out on that or not!) I believe Yau wanted from the beginning for Dreamz to win the truck, and when Cassandra's challenge-slowness put "the DreamzTeam" out of it, Yau just went on to win it for him. I loved hearing Yau say, so simply and genuinely, that he did it because of his big heart. It really is satisfying and gratifying and wonderful to know that there are people like that. I hope each one of us knows people like that, our personal home-town heroes. And I wish we would all aim to be that way ourselves.
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