Watched “Lone Survivor” last night with my husband and the movie has me thinking more heavily some thoughts that I’ve perhaps had before… And whether it’s the movie or more what I’m personally going through in life now, or some combination of both.
There were a few messages that hit me that I hope “stick” in some substantial way that I can be more mindful of those people out there who commit their lives and bodies as soldiers protect us “civilians”…
While I know it is a dramatized depiction of reality as it is a movie, the truths that stuck out to me stuck out to me in the stark contrasts to my own experience of life.
While I physically strain myself sometimes to exercise a couple more times a week or even month with the thought that I want to take care of this body God has given me a be a good steward of it not only for my sake but for my family, for my community… Our soldiers (and all other members of society dedicated to protecting the safety of others with their own lives, ie police and firemen) discipline, train and push their physical limits for the sake of everyone else to a degree so many times greater than what I could ever (or likely would ever need to) personally imagine. They push and push and push so that when there is danger to be faced that “the rest of us” can’t even fathom being able to face, they can stand in and stand guard, and do what needs to be done.
It hit me too how strong a will to live the marines had — and really that they need to have, and that they needed to prove to themselves and their team in order to make it through training — that they train themselves to survive and fight as long as they possibly can, even in the face of excruciating pain (and the constant threat of possibly even more pain), they choose to try and survive rather than just give in and die so that their personal pain can stop.
It also hit me how decisions marines (and soldiers– anyone out in different types of war zones) have to make, that while it is necessary for civilians to remain “involved” and “aware” so there is greater accountability (wherever there are people entrusted with great power), the involvement and awareness needs to include an awareness that the circumstances they are facing and needing to make sometimes questionable judgment calls are most often not exactly as simple and black and white as they would be in our own circumstances…. Doesn’t necessarily ever change the morality of killing “innocent” people (unarmed, children, elderly…women)… But for those of us in the place of “judging” them, reporting on and reading about them, we need to do so with a greater degree of humility and respect, even if we do catch a serious mistake in judgment, or a grave misstep… Doesn’t mean a free pass, but more of an awareness that maybe, perhaps, if you had found yourself in their shoes, you would know there was no easy choice or decision or the likely possibility of the best reactions or handling of situations…
!!!SPOILER ALERT (please skip this next paragraph if you haven’t already seen the movie) !!!
Finally, I was challenged by the presence of those “civilians” out there in “worlds/lives” much less protected by a bubble of justice and peace than mine, who live so bravely above reproach in order to be “good” neighbors. The “lone survivor” really could not have made it without the help of a village that fiercely held onto a code of honour to help and protect strangers even at a very real and present risk to themselves, watching this unfold in the film radically redefined what “hospitality” really means in places outside of the various North American suburban settings I have grown up in all my life. It’s not that I feel guilty, because I know that I try to push myself when and wherever I feel called with what ever little or much I feel I have been given, and in the context of my own experience of community and life…. But it just struck me how true “hospitality” and going out of my way to help others can be so, so, so, so, so much more than what I have known or perhaps may ever know…that I still have more to learn, more to grow…whatever that may look like in the contexts within which God calls me to be a vehicle of His Hospitality, in this ministry of reconciliation He entrusts us with…
!!!END OF SPOILER ALERT!!!
Anyhow, I am learning that my thoughts pile on quick these days, and so just wanted to share this before this new week gets going…
Should be a good (and full) week with my girls starting their first of 4 weeks of summer day camps– this week will be afternoons– and Trevor back at two days of school (last two weeks was just one day a week). Will free up time for me to prep for next series of Intro to Christianity class I’ll be teaching at my church (hoping to streamline more and perhaps add some “helpful” assignments and/or quizzes?).
I am looking forward to trying out some new cleaning products I ordered last Thursday (supposed to be a chemical-free or at least reduced method), in continuation of my growing journey in cleaning house (and car and purse)…
Also am planning to learn how to make macarons from a rising teenage chef in our church who has been experimenting with recipes for his mom and brothers 🙂