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May 2008: Cine-Philosophy, Part I
Preface: For the May through October Soapboxes, I will be presenting a six-part series on “Movie Quotes as Life Philosophy.” In my family, quoting movies is as natural as breathing. So, I thought I would make use of this habit and wax poetic on some of my favorites.
“Soon we must all make the choice between what is right and what is easy.”
Oh, Dumbledore, we surely miss you! But your death in the sixth book of the Harry Potter series did nothing to diminish the impact of your wisdom.
In J.K. Rowling’s fourth book, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” the evil Lord Voldemort returns, and Professor Dumbledore warns his students at Hogwarts that difficult times lay just ahead. He knows that in adversity, when backs are against the wall and lives are threatened, people will either rise above and fight the good fight, or they will take the path of least resistance and crumble under the pressure.
All of us have been faced with those terrible choices in life where we must look at ourselves in the mirror, see what we are made of, and then act based on what we have seen. Maybe we are asked to take an unpopular stand. Maybe we are asked to make a change in ourselves. Maybe we must be strong when all others have been weak.
As Dumbledore said, “right” and “easy” are almost never the same thing. In fact, for me, whenever I am faced with those keep-me-awake-tossing-and-turning dilemmas, I know that the choice I must make is the one that I am dreading. For “right” always includes a lesson or a hurdle or a mighty task.
Choosing the “right” thing to do takes inner fortitude, willpower, cojones. But I am thinking that THAT is the whole point. The way I see it, we are all here on this earthly plane to learn stuff, to improve, and to leave here better than when we came in. And you can’t get that without some kind of effort on your part.
For Harry Potter, the choice was to walk willingly into death or to join forces with those who had murdered his parents. Ok, so most of us won’t have to face that one. But maybe it’s a matter of having all the glory for oneself vs. taking one for the team. Or lying vs. admitting a mistake. Or continuing to do live in your safe comfort zone vs. taking the first steps toward a new path. In the end, I truly believe that the effort to get to “right” will be worth it, most likely in ways that you could never even imagine.
So. . . who or what is your Lord Voldemort, and what choice did you make?
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