Many of you will remember that I'm a huge West Wing fan and am still in mourning about the fact that the show went off the air. I also don't watch a lot of television (partly trying to set an example for my kids, partly because I'm too busy chasing them around to sit in front of the tube) but I usually make time for about one show a week. This year, I got hooked on a show called Heroes . It's actually really good, although not generally the type of show I'm into.

On the show, there is a teenager - Claire - who is adopted. The fact that she is adopted is discussed and is actually part of the story line. At first I didn't think much of it, but recently she started referring to her biological parents as her 'real parents' and saying to her adoptive father that he's not her 'real father.' Now, I'm not sure how I feel about this, and I could really go either way. On the one hand, is it a big deal? The writers probably don't know about "proper" language and if they do, it was probably well thought out. After all, the character is a teenager and even biological children say ridiculous things to their parents during their teenage years. On the other hand, I kind of look at it as a missed opportunity. So many people say stupid and insensitive things to adoptive families simply because they aren't exposed to the concept and the way to talk about issues. When Claire was yelling at her father on a recent episode, she said something like "you're not my real father" and he agreed, but said that he was the closest thing she has.

I'm all for equal rights, equal air time and equal fill-in-the-blank for minority groups, but I think I stay within reason. When a company makes commercials with only white actors in them consistently, I don't think they're doing anything wrong, but perhaps they are missing an opportunity. When a minority group is portrayed in a stereotypical way with no advantage to the plot of a story, I think they're missing an opportunity. Perhaps that's my opinion of this plot line of Heroes - they're missing an opportunity.... or maybe we just have to keep watching and see how it unfolds.