Reflections on Star Wars

SPOILERS!!!!!

                                                                                                                    

 Walt Disney DIS -0.86% sent out an “It’s official!” press release Wednesday at around 4:30 p.m. PT,  but in case you need hard confirmation, Wednesday’s $6.2 million gross for Star Wars: The Force Awakens has indeed pushed the Walt Disney film past the $760.5m domestic gross of James Cameron’s Avatar.J.J. Abrams’s sci-fi sequel is now the biggest grossing movie ever in America — if you don’t adjust for inflation, the 3D bump and the IMAX/PLF bumps. For the first time in 18 years, a James Cameron movie is not at the top of the charts, and for the first time in forty years, a film not helmed by James Cameron, George Lucas, or Steven Spielberg is the biggest movie ever in America. It really is the end of an era.

So here it is.    The "Star Wars" of this generation.   I finally saw it this past week.  I'll say this.  With all the money it's made the hype going in was there whether I wanted it to be or not and I'll be honest. Initially, there was a bit of a let down.  It really wasn't an amazing movie.  It was a really good movie.  That was about it.  However, the inclusion of Han Solo, Princess Leia (I think she's a General or something now) and Luke Skywalker (Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill) was brilliant.  Oh yeah.  Chewy too.  :-)  Can't forget him.  R2d2 and  C3PO show up as well.    Bringing back all those guys (and girl) connected this movie to the original three.  This one takes place thirty years later.   As these different characters started showing up I started seeing my childhood.   When I was seventeen I had brain surgery and as a result I don't remember a lot before my surgery.  Interestingly enough though, the one memory I do have is Star Wars.  Way back in the day...the early 80s...I was 8 or so, there were two times a year we could stay up.  CBS would play The Sound of Music and Star Wars annually.  I'm not sure how many years they did it.  It might've only been once.  All I know is I remember people being interviewed about how many times they'd seen Star Wars.  This church choir had seen it 222 times I think.  But I remember it.  I don't remember a lot from my childhood but I remember that.  It amazes me how much you grow to think of a movie character as family.   Specifically, Han Solo. He really stood out in all three movies and then Harrison Ford's career took off afterward.  Of course I followed it.  I grew up watching him.  He's been Indiana Jones, Jack Ryan, the  President of the United States, a Fugitive on the run, and now once again, Han Solo.    

So I sat there last week watching Episode Seven "The Force Awakens"  and it gets to the end where Han Solo calls out to his son to try and to get him to come home.  They meet on a bridge over a huge chasm.  Kylo Ren, Han and Leia's son has a face to face encounter with his father and kills him.  At that moment I felt I'd lost a family member. The guy I grew up with.  Now, when I watch a movie really become a part of it.   The fact that something as simple as a movie character/actor had such a 

such a profound influence on my life that when he was gone I did a double take.   

The generation of today is so different then mine  For my generation (and those before me as well), 

we saw it before it became a phenomenon.  When it was just a fun story about a ragtag group of 

people who end up fighting for a common cause.  Now it's this Universe.  I had a guy shocked that 

when I went to see it I wasn't just awestruck at how amazing it was.  Discussions on who is related to 

who and why sis this person this and that and the list goes on and on and on.  I was happy with my 

action figures, the few space ships I got and the Star Wars lunch box.  Now granted, movies and tv 

are a huge part of my life but if just seeing the loss of a character I grew up has such an impact on 

me what other parts in my life am I danger of losing and if I lose them will I be prepared?  Will I 

know?   These are questions I'm asking myself.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2016/01/07/box-office-star
-wars-the-force-awakens-zooms-past-avatar-soars-to-764m-cume/

Unbroken: An Extended Review

                                                            

After seeing the movie Unbroken I was excited to find out what the rest of the story was like.  Not only the parts audiences saw in the movie that were cut short due to time, but I also wanted to know how Louie Zamperini's conversion to Christ fit into the story.

I first noticed it when he crashed into the ocean.  He was tangled in some wires and was underwater long enough to go unconscious.  When he came to he was still underwater but he had somehow been freed of the wires.  Someone wanted him to survive.    It seems God wasn't through with him yet. 

During the 47 days they were stranded on the raft they kept their minds working by talking about their lives, the past, present, and future.  They had very little food and were surviving on small amounts of water.  After the crash three men had survived.  Of the three, only two made it the entire 47 days. 

The Green Hornet crashed on May 27, 1943.  47 days later Louie Zamperini and Allen Phillips (Phil) had floated about 2000 miles and were near the Marshall Islands.  What happened over the next three years would make those 47 days look like paradise. 

I'm not going to go into everything that happened as I don't want to tell the whole story but what I will say is that it really amazes me what the human body can sustain.  Of course, I think in Louie's case it had a lot to do with the fact that he had taken such good care of himself and was in very good shape.  God had a plan for him the whole time and was watching over him too. 

To me the thing that was most intriguing was the benefit of the research done by the author, Laura Hillenbrand.  Hearing the stories told by those who Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation"(1) has always been something I've found intriguing.  History through someone's eyes whose actually been there is always fascinating to listen to.  That said, sometimes it's heartbreaking and can shed a whole new light on something you've only heard or read about from people who were never really there.  Laura Hillenbrand was able to get interviews with the pilots who dropped the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima.  We got "front row seats" as it were to the event.  I know it's been written about hundreds (if not thousands) of times before but this was the first time I'd ever read it.  One of the pilots "scribbled in his diary "MY GOD!" when he saw the entire sky swirling pink and blue"(2)

I've read books about World War II and the time surrounding it.  What I've found is that in the European Theatre as well as the Pacific the world is a lot different inside their borders.  In fact, if you were going to be a POW you wanted to be a Nazi POW rather then a Japanese.  The Japanese were brutal. "Japan held some 132,000 POWs from America, Britain, Holland, and Australia.    More then 37% of Americans captured by Japan died compared to only 1% of Americans held by the Nazis and Italians.  After the war had ended and the POWs were being taken by train through Japan one said the following after going through Hiroshima following the dropping of the atomic bomb.(3)  "It was beautiful.  I realized that this is what had ended the war.  It meant we didn't have to go hungry any longer, or go without medical treatment.  I was so insensitive to anyone else's human needs and suffering.  I know it's not right to say it was beautiful, because it really wasn't.  But I believe the end probably justified the means."(4)  In today's culture if someone were to say that without all the apologies surrounding it there would be a media frenzy.  The talking heads would go crazy and he would be butchered (again) in the media.  But he's right.  I can't speak as to what Japanese society is like today but I do know that in the time of World War II honor was big.  If you did not have honor you were nothing.  You were better off dead.  So when push came to shove the only choice the Allies had was to drop the Atomic bomb.  Given the guy's three years of continuous torture I'd expect a response like that anyway. In the end though it was a very sad day.  Victorious yes, but the cost was incredible. 

After reading Unbroken and seeing the tremendous struggles the soldiers went through it amazes me that any could just stand and take it.  Every single day.  It impresses me that we have soldiers out there defending our nation who are willing to do that.    I come back full circle to the question I asked at the beginning.  How did Louie's conversion change the story?  One experience in particular stood out to me.  In 1943 Louie was captive on the island of Kwajalein(5).The island had been dubbed Execution Island  and he was there he had a guard by the name of Kawamura (Louie was uncertain of his name).  it turned out he was a Christian and while Louie was on that island Kawamura protected him and Phil.  42 days after their arrival they were taken from their cells and Louie looked one last time for Kawamura.  He didn't see him.  I have to wonder if he wasn't a soldier sent by God to protect Louie and Phil.  Once they were transferred his job was done.  God works in mysterious ways.  Knowing that God was working through Louie's life and the events therein and seeing how it came together through such an amazing journey was something I'll not soon forget.  It made the personal story of a war hero all that more special because God used him in so many way to help so many people.    He must've been a really special man. 

God has a plan for everything and maybe that's why God doesn't allow for everyone to make it back.  It's a cold hard fact.  I can't explain it and won't even try.  I do know one thing.  Louie Zamperini has finished the race.  He is now with his Creator.  He leaves behind an awesome legacy that, while it may be much more colorful then mine I know that we worship the same God so in the end it doesn't matter who does what as long  as it's done for his kingdom.  I just want to hear those words, "Well done."  Thank you Louie!  Take a lap for me!



(1)  "The Greatest Generation", Tom Brokaw, 2010
(2)"Unbroken", Laura Hillenbrand, 2010, p.300
(3)"Unbroken" Laura Hillenbrand, 2010 p. 315
(4)"Unbroken" Laura Hillenbrand, 2010, 320
(5)  Kwajalein Atoll During World War II

 

 

 

 

The Real Reason for the Season

  

This time of year is traditionally a time where friends and family get together and much like others that has been a tradition in our family for many years.  In recent years it's gotten harder as our family has grown much bigger, the distances between us are greater, and of course each family is at that point where they have children of their own and are establishing traditions of their own.

 

    Now, while gathering with friends and family isn't the "reason for the season" it has become something that coincides with it.  The difference between Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year) and say the 4th of July is the giving of gifts.  When  people gather on the 4th they cook burgers and watch fireworks.  At Christmas there is the tradition of giving gifts.  I suppose both holidays are traditional.  Ironically, the focus of both has been lost with either Black Friday sales or cookouts.  We mention our Veterans at some point during the day and the History Channel runs specials all day but it's more important that we get a day off, spend time at the beach, have a huge retail shopping day/weekend and then fireworks (which are rarely ever on the 4th anymore anyway).  Then of course there's Christmas, which, while it is a pagan holiday (History of Christmas) it can still be a day where we, as believers, can choose to celebrate the birth of Christ, regardless of when he was actually born.  Since there is no way we can know for sure the actual date we could celebrate Christmas in August.  The important thing is that we recognize that he was born, not when he was born.  Who cares when he was born.  The fact that he was born is the most important part.  If he hadn't have been born, he couldn't have died.  Then we'd all be in a world of hurt.  Our goal, whenever regardless of when Christmas is celebrated should be to make sure people know why it's celebrated.  That's the best gift we can give.  It's a gift that a lot of us (myself included) have dropped the ball on.    I had a guy say to me that after Christmas Jesus would go back in his cave until Easter.  If I'm at least showing him (and others for that matter) that Jesus is not in a cave but is still alive and with us each and every day I'm doing him and myself a disservice regardless of whether or not he agrees with me.  You know, I wonder if that is more the reason for the season.  To celebrate and share that he was born while remembering (and sharing as well) why we, as believers, celebrate Christmas. 

 

Why Be Thankful?

  After a very long month, one that
hopefully will never be repeated, aside from being thankful that the month is over and I'm still employed I think that the     above question is still one that needs to be asked and addressed. Our culture is very consumer driven. It's all about the "next big thing". What's the new iPhone going to look like?  Will there be yet another Elmo this year?  Who knows?  I do know one thing. I really shouldn't care. There's more to life then TV, movies, and gadgets. What about the mind?  Have we gotten so complacent as to just be looking forward to movies and the next TV season?  Harsh words yes. But what about our families, friends, and for some of us, our relationship with God? These relationships suffer the longer our focus remains on things.  Over the last year I've seen a lot of death. Some expected, some not. We never know how much time we have. Every moment counts. Try to make them count!  I'm so thankful for the..(now)...oh boy...eight nieces and one nephew (poor kid) but especially for the other nineteen (I think) I'm so thankful they stuck by me during such a tough month. Why?  That's what a family does. Unless of course you're having a baby. :). 

Thanks guys!  

Remembered but not Forgotten: The Last Moments

You might think this is going to be patriotic.  It's not.  I suppose it could be with 9/11 approaching but honestly I wasn't thinking about that when I chose the picture.  My focus was the headstone.  It seems that over the last few months (i.e. posts) my thoughts have been on different stages of life.  There have been a lot of drastic changes in our family circle over the last two years.  Friends and family have passed on, new family members have arrived..or will be soon...very soon.  But as those that have passed on have left us I've started thinking about legacy.  The Last Moments. 
When Mom told me about her last real moment with her mom I could see that everything that had happened in her life up to that moment faded into nothing.  It was still there but it meant nothing because that last real moment was so special.  It was a privilege for me to hear about it.

Of course there are other last moments.  The phrase "you'll never get a second chance to make a first impression" applies in more ways than just one.   It's a philosophy of mine that if I leave a job I leave on good terms and I absolutely never walk off the job.  If I am scheduled to work, even if I'm leaving the company and it's my last day, I work.  I don't want to be remembered as the guy who screwed the rest of the crew over just because he didn't like his job.

On that note, (no I'm not quitting my job) I recently (August 31st) hit the twenty year mark at Walmart/Sams.  Twenty years!  Nineteen ninety-four was twenty years ago.  I'd say it seems like only yesterday but it really doesn't.  I've lived in four states, moved countless times because I stayed at the same job.  I even got a plaque.  Yes.  I suppose it's a big deal.  Staying at one job for such a long time.  At first I didn't think so.  I've not really accomplished anything except dodging some bullets over the years. (We won't get into that).  However, what I realized was it's more then just what happened at work.  It's the people I've met over the years.  I've done some crazy things.  But I've also met some (crazy) people both inside and outside of work.  Friendships I still have today.  That's what makes the twenty years worth it.  God gave me a pretty awesome twenty years.  I hope the "last moments" (even though we still talk) I've had over the years have been good and that I'll be remembered as a follower of Christ or as someone who strove to be that.

Remembering...and moving on

This summer I went to Michigan for my vacation.  While I was there we had to go to Grandpa and Grandma Roberts' house to get some things (furniture) as they were preparing the house for sale.  Grandpa and Grandma are reaching the end and in a nursing home.  It was a surreal experience for me as it was the first time I'd been in that house in several years.  Nothing had changed.  I walked in and it was like I stepped back in time.  There they were, sitting in the kitchen, excited to see me.  (My trips home at that point were few and far between.  Why take a vacation downstate when you live on Lake Superior?  Besides, I always met the family at the Straits.)    I continued into the dining room, now empty, but I could see the table.  My mind took me back to one of many family reunions.  It was a huge family so there were always a ton of people there.  I was sitting next to Grandpa talking about who knows what.    On the porch I envisioned the large round plastic table.  Some of you may remember it.  It had the cloudy surface with the white trim.  On top was the large bowl of fruit that Grandma always had at every family reunion.  Cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries, green and red grapes, bananas, and who knows what else.  

It was a tri-level house and people in the 50s and 60s must have been much shorter because I've always had to duck going down those stairs.  I think everyone has.  As I waled downstairs to the second level I could see all the pictures had been removed. I didn't recall pictures being on that wall but the family has grown quite a bit over the last fifteen years.  Grandma had pictures everywhere so it wouldn't surprise me if there were pictures on that wall when I was growing up.  I walked into the room downstairs and there was Grandpa's TV.  The big box TV.  The one from the 60s  A box with a screen.  He always watched Charles Stanley on that.  The second thing I saw was that Great Grandpa and Grandma Roberts' picture was gone.  As long as I can remember it was always the first thing I saw when I walked into the room.  I think that snapped me back to reality.  After we moved the furniture Dad showed me a bunch of houses that Grandpa built.  What a heritage!  Even now, riding with Dad occasionally he'll point to a house a say, "We built that.", or "I remember working on that."  If I'm lucky there will be some unique story that goes along with it.

Over the years I had built up a dislike for my Grandparents, especially my Grandpa.  The reasons are unimportant.  What I came to realize though was that as you get older, you start to see more death or people approaching the end of their lives, your perspective changes.  Grandpa and Grandma are both nearing the end and I know now that any irritations or annoyances were just that.  Did I think they were more?  Yes.  But in the end they really weren't all that important.  The question I'm asking myself is "What do I consider to be important?"  More importantly, what will I do with it?

A Puzzle Piece That's Found Its Home

I've been all over the United States and even to Mexico and Cuba. I think though that this will always be my favorite place. Every time I see this bridge I want to be there. I have to be there. That's why every year I try so hard to make it back. I can't explain it. I just know more and more that Michigan is my home and getting to any Great Lake (in Michigan) is a yearly goal. I made it to Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior last year and I'm hoping to do the same again this year. Time will tell! Even if I can only get to one though, I'll be happy just to see the clear, blue (and this year cold) water of a Great Lake will be a pleasure.   

There are a lot of people who leave Michigan for many reasons.  The economy is bad, it's cold, and those are very good reasons to leave.  However, if you can stick it out there are some great benefits.  Forty of Michigan's eighty-three counties touch at least one of the Great Lakes.  If you are within the state of Michigan you are always within 85 miles of one of the Great Lakes.  For me, the Great Lakes are in my blood.  It's been said that if you grow up in the state you don't realize how much you miss them until you leave.  Maybe a better way to describe it would be that (for some) you don't realize how big a part of your life they are until they aren't accessible anymore.  When I was getting ready to move to Colorado a guy told me there was no water there and I freaked. My knee jerk reaction was to rethink the whole thing.  Sometimes though, sacrifices have to be made.  Lord willing, someday I'll be back.  

Last year I was in Michigan for a week and Dad and I headed up to the Straits for a couple days.  I hadn't been to Mackinaw City in six years and Mackinaw Island almost ten.  I was going through withdraw.  Not really.  But I was really excited to be going.  

There were some firsts on this trip...also some lasts.  It was the first time we didn't take bikes to the island.  That won't happen again.  Oh, and if any of you are considering staying there keep in mind that staying in St. Ignace may be cheaper but you have to pay every time you cross the bridge so unless you are headed north it might be advantageous to stay on the south side as there is pretty much nothing except the casino and the campground we stayed at in St. Ignace.    Okay.  Enough of that rabbit trail.  

One of the nights we headed back into Mackinaw City we were going to meet up with a family friend I hadn't seen in years.  Bonnietta Benn.  She plays the flute (quite well I might add), and she was playing at a concert in the park. We caught up with her just as she started practicing so we had to wait for her to finish so we waited in the park at a picnic table just sitting, watching, and relaxing.  The bridge was well within view as was the island.  It was a nice evening but something felt oddly different. I looked around and an image popped into my head. A puzzle piece.  I was a puzzle piece.  Suddenly it made sense.   Why, as a troll* (someone who lives in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan under the Mackinaw Bridge), do I fit in more with the Yoopers** (someone born in the UP) then with the trolls?  (I'm actually more of a Yooper trapped in a troll's body.)   Just as the Mackinaw City and the Straits seem to complete my "puzzle" the Mackinaw Bridge represents the link to the family I have in the Upper Peninsula and the love for Lake Superior I've developed over the last thirty years.  It comes back full circle.  I know that there are some who will say it's not possible but I really believe that Michigan is as much a part of me as I am of it.  I bleed blue.  Wolverine blue yes but so much more Lake Superior blue.   That explains why people here in Ohio look at me funny when I tell them I love snow.  Although, truth be told that happens pretty much everywhere.  Now, with all that said, the question bears asking, "Why are you still in the Buckeye State?"  Well, for now, this is where God wants me and I'll stay here until He indicates otherwise.  I've got a good job, good church and I'm close to family here as well and that's reason enough for me to stay.  So until such time as I can get to the Keweenaw and breathe "the cleanest air on earth" (not until 2015) I'll see fit to watch from afar but at the same time enjoy the Straits and life at the other end of the state.  Can't wait to visit you Mom (you too Dad!)  :-) 

Facts on Michigan were taken from the below website
http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-9622_11033_11151-67959--,00.html