Hugo “Hurley” Reyes.  Hurley is a great character.  Definitely one in my top five.  Very similar to Claire in a few ways.  He’s a great person, just has horrible luck.  Perhaps his luck is due to his attitude though?  Believing that he has bad luck causes it.  In his case of course, believing his numbers are “cursed.”  One thing this show teaches us that there are very few coincidences, so to believe that the numbers are cursed just by coincidence, is quite ridiculous.  In fact, if you analyze any situation in the show, or even your life, it is hard to buy into the thought of coincidences, or “luck.”  Why do things happen like they do?  But to get back on topic, Hurley is always willing to lend a helping hand, and at times almost even seems like a people pleaser.  You’ve got to kind of pity him when people make fun of his weight, because you sit back and thing, what in the world did he do to make that person say that?  I guess that’s just the harshness of the world though.  He is also an extremely entertaining individual, and has an enormous amount of charisma.  Just for me, as a viewer, it’s hard for him to say anything without making me laugh, or at least smile, because he’s such a loveable character.  People have issues taking him seriously too.  Remember when he told Charlie he was worth $160 million?  He didn’t believe it, he thought he was making a joke, or attempting to be humorous.  I love how when there is a tense moment, Hurley has the ability to lighten the mood, and take some of the seriousness out of the situation.  Some people just have that gift.  In my opinion it’s something that everyone should learn.  The world has become way to serious.  It’s become engrossed with itself, and honestly, good people are a dying breed.  As well as honest people.  I love my friends, but I ask myself what if I had a child, would I want that person to be his/her role model?  That’s a tough question in itself.  Unfortunately though, people like Hurley get taken advantage of in life.  They may be walked all over, because of their good nature, and that isn’t right in my opinion.  We see this in an episode where one of the other characters needs something that Hurley has, and this character takes advantage of Hurley’s good nature, and of course, Hurley being the great person that he is, follows through for that person.  It’s respectable to stay that way too, in a world like ours.

Hurley is extremely secretive.  And that kind of confuses me.  I don’t think it’s a humble type thing, because he doesn’t seem like he’s that kind of guy.  It just seems like he doesn’t want anyone to know about his money, but who knows why?  Maybe he thinks that it will change people’s outlook on him.  Very similar to Sun in the fact that he has something he is hiding.  Perhaps they hide it for similar reasons?  Sun feared what her husband would do to her, Hurley fears what other people will think.  Not only does he hide the fact that he’s a millionaire, we see his hesitance to share the whole “number” situation with people too, and I don’t really understand that.  It makes me think that he’s to worried about other’s opinion on things.  That’s another thing; he’s caring almost to the point of being insecure at times, throughout the show, about others’ outlook on him.  We see this at times throughout season one just a little, but especially early in season two.  He tried Jin’s sushi, and threw up in the process, but it didn’t stop him from attempting it.  That’s very respectable to me.  Another quality the world lacks, culture, or better yet, ability to adapt.  The truth is, the world is spoiled, but there are a few good people left in it, and Hurley, although a multimillionaire appears to be one of those.  The fact that he is tied in with Locke is very cool to me.  But on the island, it’s a new life, a new beginning, and things like that don’t matter. 

So back to the luck thing, is it bad luck, or is it just the thought of bad luck causing it?  You even see throughout the entire show people giving his opinion on it.  Jack telling him they are “just numbers,” but then you have people like Locke saying there is a reason, and nothing happens by chance.  It’s a dang big coincidence, Jack.

What can we learn from Hurley?  Bad things just happen to good people.  We have all been through that.  I mean deep down, aren’t most people good?  So why do bad things happen?  We can take so many different outlooks on that.  We can blame it on our religion, our deity, our optimism, our pessimism, fate, or simply karma.  But what is it?  I wish I knew the answer to that.  I think overall though, it’s our outlook on life.  You can live life carefree.  It’s hard, but you can do it.  I’ve been at times in my life where I felt that way, and I’ve never felt better.  It’s a tough spot to get in though, because you have to wonder why things happen like they do.  All it takes to get you out of one of those moods though, is a bad occurrence.  To many of those, and you become a bitter person, and that really is sad.  You can kind of relate it to being a kid, and how you were so carefree as a child.  All that really mattered was Saturday morning cartoons, or other simple things.  Another main thing we can learn from him is that in life is that it’s very important to treat people great, because you never know who can be rich and in a powerful position.  I guarantee you all those people that cracked jokes about Hurley’s weight wouldn’t have thought about it had they known about his financial situation.  You never know who could be in a powerful position and it appear that they are nothing more than a fry cook at a fast food restaurant.