Terminating the Soloist

I'm kind of a movie nerd. I like movies, what can I say? And recently I've seen some movies that have had moments that really touched me. I wanted to share a few.

First off, a few weeks ago i went and saw The Soloist. It was an excellent movie, one of the best I've seen in a while. There was one scene in particular that I really loved. I don;t want to ruin the movie, but in this scene Jamie Foxx's character is sleeping on the streets in an area jam packed with homeless people. As he drifts of to sleep he recites the Lords Prayer. As he speaks the words most of us have heard and spoken a million times the camera pans over the homeless, the impoverish, the hurting and the broken. The contradiction between the words being spoken and the all too true images on the screen stuck out to me and really tore at my heart.

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth, as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, Amen.

How are we following God's will when we allow this kind of poverty and brokenness to run rampant not only in our country but around the world. We should be loving these people, giving whatever we can to aide them, living simply so that they may simply live. A lot of us, myself included, live with far more than we could ever begin to actually need, while millions of people are starving and freezing to death every day. Millions have diseases they will die from because they can't afford medical attention. They are left alone to die because we are to comfortable in our lives to make sacrifices to show them love and support. It is blatant hypocrisy to speak the words 'Thy Kingdom come thy will be done' when we sit and do nothing about the gross injustices happening all over our war torn, poverty and sickness stricken world and i am as guilty of it as anyone.

The trespasses we ask forgiveness for have two meanings in this scene. One, we should ask forgiveness for the sin of allowing such injustice to happen to our fellow human beings, for not loving the poor and the homeless, the broken and the destitute, for living lives of comfort and luxury while others suffer and die with basically nothing to call their own. We should ask forgiveness for our hatred and violence, for giving into the myth that revenge solves problems and redemptive violence works. We should ask forgiveness for not loving the world actively and unconditionally as we should. Again, I am guilty of this. The second trespasses being asked forgiveness for are the sins that the poor and broken are driven to in order to survive, when they feel like they have no other choice left, and as they ask forgiveness for this they are also asking for forgiveness for those who have put them in that possition, those of us who are not loving them as we should.

The words give us this day our daily bread remind me of my favorite proverb: "Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD ?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God." - Proverbs 30:8-9. Give me only my daily bread. Give me only what I need to survive, to truely live, no more and no less. I feel that alot of the sins in the world come from having to much or to little, the tention between have's and havenots and the desire to always have more-more wealth, more power, more than we need. As Gandhi once said, "There is enough for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed."

This scene was beautifully done and shows how much more we need to start loving people. We need to let go of greed and comfort and make sacrifices for other people. Which brings me to my next movie.

Last night I went with some friends to see Terminator Salvation. I didn't actually know if I wanted to see it or not. I haven't seen any of the others and I didn't know that I would like it. I found it, however, to be a very well done movie. There were a couple things I really liked about it. Again, while attempting to not give away to much of the plot, there is a scene in the movie where two of the characters talk about whether or not people deserve second chances. Later in the film one of those characters decides to give up their life to save John Connor, the main character for those who don't know the movie. When asked why he is willing to die for Connor the character (I wont say his name and ruin the movie) says something along the lines of "I'm taking my second chance." His second chance at life is not to live, per say, but to die so someone else can live. In this way he is truly living in that he his dedicating his life (quite literally) to showing love to someone else. I absolutely loved this part because in dying this character truly lived his life. He had a second chance at life and took it, using it in the best way possible, at least in my opinion. After all, there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for another. Someone pretty smart said that once. :)

There is another part in the movie where John Connor makes a speech (that i can't remember all of or find anywhere on the Internet. fail.) about how the difference between humans and the machines is that the machines can make cold calculated decisions about sacrificing this many people to save that many and so one, where as humans should not. we are to fallible to be able to make a decision like that. We can not look at the situation objectively enough, we are too human, and therefore, John says, We should try to dot he human thing and do our best to save everyone, not sacrifice some for 'the greater good.' Who are we as humans to place that kind of value on human life? Instead we need to love people. All people.

Also, baseball players should wear their socks up to their knees, none of this long pants craziness. Just a thought.