PRAYING WITH ER

Okay, ER just had a fabulous moment on their Christmas episode. A woman whose boyfriend has just pretty much died gets the bad news from Dr. Luca Kovatch - who is having the night from hell. He pretty much killed her boyfriend by a clinical error. So, the girlfriend says to him, "Will you pray with me?" He - being a committed agnostic (what my friend calls being deeply commited to being in confusion) - suggests that she should find the hospital chaplain. The girlfriend says, "No. You." He freezes. She puts her hands on his and bows her head and prays silently. He stays there frozen. Half wishing he could pray, but a prisoner of his own doubt and cynicism.

It made me cry - mainly because ER should have people praying every week on the show. Have the show's writers and producers never been around people in pain?! Anyway, it was a touching and truthful moment of the kind that once made the show the best on Television. Kudos, ER.