Man, it's hard to feel hopeful and incomplacent at the same time. When I stop goofing around, my life catches up to me and I feel a bit overwhelmed by directionlessness and uselessness. I cry out to God to show me purpose and vision beyond what I see with my everyday eyes. He is a good God, doing more than I could ask or imagine; I know exciting things must be happening somewhere in the world, and if they do turn out to be happening right where I'm living now, I pray for eyes to see them, and the chance to be even a small part of them.
In a similar vein, a friend has said one must wait for a heroic love (in the context of romantic relationships), a love that strongly binds and fiercely defends. This is in opposition to settling for the usual chick-flick-style drama of "boy messes things up, she gets mad, he apologizes, will they / won't they, and then they do." I could not agree more. It's an intimidatingly scary thing, though, both to wait, and also to love like heroes! I am not sure I am ready or able to love heroically, though I pray that I find the courage and strength to do so. I fear I am more the type to love Romantically… passionately, longingly, tragically, sacrificially, and unrequitedly. May God prove my fears, as always, to be unfounded.
In other news, I saw "The Battle of Algiers" over the weekend. (Don't look for it on Fandango, look on Netflix - it was made in 1965.) The review said it is "astonishingly relevant" today, and I suppose you can judge for yourself if you see it. I found it to be true, though… For a movie in French from forty years ago, it's especially surprising. Has America turned into Imperialist France from fifty years ago? I'd say maybe more so than we'd like to admit.
By the 1950s, France had been the colonial power in Algeria for more than a hundred years already. The city of Algiers was divided, though, into the European Quarter and the Islamic Algerian rest of the city. An independence/resistance movement started up and began terrorist activities to kick out the French… the movie tells the tale of the man who ends up leading the resistance movement, and the various criminal tactics they employ, and the escalation that occurs as France decides to send in troops to "interrogate" suspects and destroy the organization. I won't say how it turns out… but I will say that the issues of Muslim/Western culture clashes, the use of torture, the western power just trying to police the city and keep the peace, the facelessness of a terrorist enemy (the actual organization in the movie is mainly 4 guys, but there's 400,000 native Algerians in the city that are all suspects, as each could be carrying bombs or whatnot), and the ease with which both sides slip from their high ideals into prejudice, hatred, and crimes against humanity – all these are definitely "astonishingly relevant." And for a movie made only 4 years after Algeria actually gained its independence… it's amazingly even-handed. It definitely helps explain the current French attitude a little better. I think it should be required viewing for world leaders today.
Not much else is new. I get to go up to the bay area in two weeks! And London in less than 2 months... much craziness.
1 comment:
The idea of loving heroically terrifies me out of my wits. But I think I agree.
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