Jack Shephard. Jack is my favorite character on the show. From the very first episode we see how willing he is to take charge and handle all these people, not only leading them, but gaining their respect in the process. Not every single person likes Jack, but I guarantee you they respect his authority. What makes Jack the way he is? Possibly his past? His dealings with his father definitely changed his life, and made him overall a better person. Or even more, the death of his father. I think that Jack feels there were some untied knots that probably should have been dealt with before his father died, but he never had the chance. Think about what happened to Jack and his father. The decision Jack made in the boardroom of the hospital was probably one of the biggest decisions of his life. It would take a lot of courage to stand up for what’s right, opposed to what your father and/or authority figure wanted you to do.  Jack never cracks under pressure either.  Calm, confident, and cool under pressure.  That’s another one of my favorite things about him.

Jack and Locke are so much alike in so many ways, but at the same time so different. Jack is a man of logic all the way, opposed to Locke being a man of faith. We can also see though, by Jack’s history, that he sees miracles happen. He sees things that are unexplainable, but that doesn’t convince him. He wants every single thing explained by science, and he doesn’t believe in fate or destiny whatsoever. He totally believes that whatever happens, happens and it was caused by the natural laws of the universe, although his past shows completely otherwise. The “they’re just numbers, Hurley,” statement is another perfect example of Jack’s beliefs. Maybe he believes in luck, or karma? Jack is a “what you see is what you get” type of guy. There’s nothing wrong with that though. Perhaps other situations in his past convince him of that. Does that tie into the good leadership role? No, I don’t think so. Because if you compare him and Locke, they are both leaders, yet polar opposites in beliefs. I can see where it can kind of annoy people the way he is sometimes. Almost like a doubting Thomas. A perfect example really. Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples, saw the miracles Jesus performed. He saw what had happened, yet he couldn’t believe it. Exactly like Jack. Perfect comparisons. Jack has seen those things happen. He has seen things that cannot be explained. He’s experienced them, yet he can’t fathom that something that cannot be proved actually happened. He doesn’t even put his faith in herbs at all. We see Sun recommend herbs as a remedy for a patients pain, and Jack refuses because he doesn’t believe in things like that. To him, it’s science or nothing. Which to me is a little ridiculous because we as humans had to rely on things like that at one point in time.

Jack is also set on saving his patients, and this is due to his history too. We see how he lost a few patients, and that definitely has an effect on him. He is willing to do whatever it takes to save someone, even at the expense of his own life, and that is a trait that is tied to good leadership. At this point, we can’t really tell if Jack’s leadership is natural though. I think he was forced into it by his father. From what you can see throughout the series about Jack’s father, is that he is a very “expecting” father, and expects a lot out of Jack. Hence the reason Jack is a surgeon. Jack keeps so much bottled up though. He’s constantly worried about everyone else, and is a bit of a martyr. You see him sacrificing his own time and risking himself to help others. Take Sawyer for an example. Sawyer treats Jack horribly, yet Jack refuses to let Sawyer suffer, and still tends to every single wound that he gets. That is very respectable to me. He’s got this attitude that he can fix anything, medically wise anyway, and he won’t take no for an answer. He is willing to work at it until he either fixes the patient or they die. There is a single word that describes Jack perfectly: committed.

Jack is just a hero in my opinion, and a perfect example of one. He does give off an arrogant vibe sometimes when he tries to get into other’s business, but you have to have a leader or people will die. That’s all there is to it. He could relax a little more often though. He’s just so busy taking care of things that he forgets about himself. I think that a lot people get aggravated by people like Jack. I know a few people that don’t like him, and I think it’s mostly because of the doubting. A lot of people resent authority figures, but at the same time look to those people to make decisions. But when the leaders make these decisions, and others disagree with them, they resent it. I’ve been in that situation before. People will look at me to make a decision, or do a certain thing, and when I do it, they disagree with how I did it, or the decision I made. It can get aggravating.

What can we learn from Jack? That the world needs to be more caring. Maybe not just like him, but in some ways, he’s the perfect example of what we should strive to become. People that think of others before themselves, willingness to lead. I believe he’s the exact opposite of Shannon. Analyze Shannon in your mind, think about it. She’s all about herself, using others for what she needs, and ignoring everything. Then look at Jack; the complete opposite. He isn’t imposing either. Jack will do whatever is necessary to make the situation right, or make it better, no matter the cost, and he’s so resilient, it’s amazing. However, he gets mad when he can’t make things right.  We see this happen a lot.  He almost changes when he can’t make something right, or when someone dies.  It’s definitely someting to do with his past.  He probably feels like he’s made a lot of mistakes that could have been fixed based on certian decisions he made.  Another thing about Jack is that he isn’t very imposing on people either. Remember the episode where Jack found out about Kate being a convict? He didn’t say a word, he didn’t run to her and say, “I know about your past, Kate!” He respected her, regardless of who she was or what she had done. Another invaluable trait in my opinion. It seems like the world just rushes to convict people about things, and it’s rare to find people like Jack in that aspect.