And Beauty Killed The Beast...

The delay has been necessary, but to ‘Your Thoughts’ we move.

It was some time ago now – and this seems to be for a lot of things – that I watched a film that moved me in a way I never thought it would. It involved the wildest of characters, a 30-foot gorilla and the women he loved. It was so strange to see the interaction between the two, having this woman who so longingly wished to leave and be anywhere but with the ape. Yet as time progresses in the film the woman sees something, some sort of value in this beast and she becomes visibly attached. I was mesmerized as I watched these two beings being tangled in emotions as they spent more and more time together. The were playing on frozen lakes, making each other laugh, and then when the time came to be separated the two would do anything it took to be back together. They would scale large buildings, sell off relationships that have existed for years, they would ruin any public image they had built, and sell any benefit for the other. What was this driving force behind their actions? Why would a person sacrifice all of who they are for something they can’t control? I watched and was convinced of this apes love for this woman. As he fell to his doom I was crushed from his loss. It was as if I had witnessed something that was perhaps not rare in its existence but rare in its expression. I left that theatre with the warm sensation of something that I so desperately desired. What was it? Was it love? Was it what William Shakespeare so poetically portrayed in his scripts that so entwine our thoughts centuries later? If this longing is so strong in us all, why can’t we go to our local convince store and buy a bottle or package of it? Perhaps we try with our affairs, drugs, lies and rebellion, but it never works out. One thing I find so interesting about the hit television show ‘The OC’ is that the main parental role in the show demonstrates a functioning loving relationship. Perhaps part of the shows draw is this ‘rare’ relationship, this unknown example of love between two people. Why is it that this love seems to be so unknown yet so longed for? We watch films like ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and love the fact that things turn out in the end perhaps so unexpectantly. Why is it that in this college in the second semester we can look around and watch, as a number of individuals seem to have come across this love? What is it in us that so seemingly longs for this love? We are perfectly loved by our heavenly Father, but even He said man shouldn’t be alone. Why do we long for it, search for it, kill for it, sacrifice for it, desire it, flee from it, fear it, lose sleep over it. Something is missing in our world in a big way. I’m not saying it is not there but it is suppressed wherever it is. I have discovered in this small yet never regrettable existence of mine that if I feel like asking a question then someone else somewhere else is thinking of asking it too. Why are there so many poor examples of how to love someone and with that why is it so hard to find and keep it? I’m not the only one asking, this picture says so.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dearhajime/5963267/

Buck The Trend

I was recently watching a dramatic production, which incorporated bits of media, and on the screen flashed the question, “What makes great people great?” The question was posed as an interview to random people across the city where the movie was filmed. People listed money, circumstances, drive, power, family, and even God for reasons great people become great. I have never considered this before, and having been exposed to it I figured I would stop and dwell for a moment on the issue. What makes great people great? It is my personal belief that it has nothing to do necessarily with circumstances such as money specifically, but perhaps with recognition, or even circumstances such as loss, or trauma. I feel as though each one of us as people have the ability to become ‘Great”, but that greatness is only recognized within our own perspective of great. I would view the farmer who is obedient to God’s call and shares God’s love with the one person he was supposed to in his lifetime as an example of greatness. But these stories are so often missed, and replaced with the larger stories of greatness, such as those people whom fill stadiums of people all to come and hear their message of hope. I want to propose a change in perspective. Not a lessening in anyway of the term great, but a holistic recognition of what it was created to represent. To be great should be labeled to things, people and ideas./ that are truly great not just things worthy of making the news. Perhaps our elevation of the term great has kept it in a place so unreachable that we as humans have worn out in the struggle to grab it and make it our own. Greatness can be found in obedience, and in the struggle to do just that. Someone who can be considered great is someone who is willing to try, willing to fail also, but more importantly than both he is willing to try again. I find solace in the quote “Count it a blessing that you are such a failure, your second chance might never have come.”

With greatness now being defined, I hope we can notice that we can all become great. In a world filled with apathy, laziness, and self-fulfillment, all it takes is one person, perhaps you to buck the trend, grab hold of the reigns of your life and starting trying again. It is like the stories your teachers told when you were in school about not wasting your potential. Try to be obedient to the will of God, to what he has for you, to sacrifice your own pleasure for the betterment of His kingdom. Greatness is achievable, but only at a cost, a small cost or large depending on how you view your own ‘freedom’ but I beg of you to grab hold of your greatness we so often ignore and run. And when you fail, count it a blessing that you get just another opportunity to prove your greatness. Run, race and strive for all that you can be. Greatness is staring you in the eye asking you to pursue it. Don’t let yourself down. Buck the Trend.

But what do you think makes great people great?