Christian Shephard.  Very interesting name isn’t it?  You have to wonder if the writers did this intentionally.  Two connotations to Christianity in one name.  Christian is a great character.  The father of Jack, and we find out in season three that he is also the father of Claire.  You can tell that Christian pushed Jack so hard as a child.  I mean the first season showed us that.  We also saw in the first season, that Christian told Jack not to be a hero in certain situations, because “people will blame you when something goes wrong.”  This is true, and we even see this happen to Jack in the series a time or two.

As we all know, Christian is an alcoholic.  Christian and Jack actually get in an argument in one episode, referring to this.  Jack discovers that Christian had been calling his ex-wife, Sarah, and Jack goes off the deep end.  Jack couldn’t let Sarah go, and was dialing all the numbers on her cell phone.  Christian enters the room, to attempt to figure out what Jack is doing.  Jack calls one of the numbers, and it ends up being his fathers.  Christian claims, “I think I know a little about being obsessive,” and Jack responds with, “No, being a drunk is not being obsessive.”  The conversation ends with Christian telling Jack to, “Let it go.”  We see this referenced in a few episodes.

I believe that Christian feels as he is a failure in life, and that is part of the reason he is an alcoholic.  Many of us can relate to this, looking to alcohol or some other form of pleasure to ease pain in our life.  To pick one word to describe Christian, I would say critical.  We see this numerous times, especially toward Jack.  I believe that Christian knew that Jack was a better doctor than he was, but he wouldn’t admit, which in my opinion is a character flaw.  He even tells Sawyer, in Sydney, that he wished he had the courage to pick up the phone and call Jack and apologize for all that he’d done to him, and tell him he’s a “better doctor than he’ll ever be.”

I think that we can learn from Christian Shephard’s character that if we wait to long to do something in life, we may never have the chance.  Christian had unfinished business with Jack, but he never apologized; he never forgave Jack for turning him in, although it was the right thing to do.