Hope is Like the Sun
Hope is Like the Sun…
“What chance do we have? The question is ‘what choice.’ Run, hide, plead for mercy, scatter your forces. You give way to an enemy this evil with this much power, and you condemn the galaxy to an eternity of submission. The time to fight is now!”
– Jyn Erso, Rogue One
It is days like today that remind me that our stories have a purpose beyond entertainment. The stories that have shaped us, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter (in spite of its author being a Death Eater) and so many more have, time and again, told the same tale.
That when the shadow returned to Mordor, during the rise of the Empire, when the Ministry of Magic fell to the Death Eaters, it was, has been, and always will be regular people that turn back the tide of oppression and evil. Those who clock in despite the despair, who work to shelter the goodness and love in our hearts when hatred and anger are so easy to access, those who choose to do the next right thing when all the powers of the world demand capitulation and conformity, we are the momentum that keeps the wheel turning.
Gandalf, the wisest and most powerful of all the Istari (the Istari were the wizards, for those of you without a Tolkien special interest), summed up this sentiment perfectly:
"Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love."
It is this that separates us from our oppressors. Kindness and love. Empathy and understanding, even for those of our class that have been taken in by the false narratives of Empire. Remember, Emperor Palpatine was welcomed in by many of the citizens of the Galactic Republic, and not because they sympathized with the Dark Lord of the Sith. Rather, many of these people welcomed Palpatine’s rule because they feared the future, things that were different, change, war, and all the many things that keep us all awake at night. Palpatine offered security, peace, and justice by placing blame and allowing the people of the Republic a place to rest those fears, at the feet of the Jedi.
But even as they cheered for his reign, immediately the people of the now Galactic Empire began to regret this choice, just as many of our fellow Americans have come to regret theirs.
I have read and heard that this is FAFO season for a lot of people, and I couldn’t agree more. But as those who have had the wool pulled over their eyes start to wake up and see the truth, what they need to find more than anything is the powers for good that never stopped working for them, even when they rejected it.
It’s easy to like the good guys.
Obi-Wan Kenobi processed his failures and continued his work to become a true Jedi Master. Gandalf faced the betrayal of Saruman and his own death rather than succumb to darkness. Lelouch Vi Britania accepted his role as the scapegoat and brought forth a better world. Naruto made peace with the demon fox inside of him and used their relationship to bring peace to his people.
But it’s harder to accept those that must face their own darkness before they truly wake up.
Trauma, scarcity, and violence change people. And in our stories, we often watch how fear and corruption change many for the worse. Often many of those who have not experienced oppression struggle to comprehend it until it impacts them, and others still comprehend the impacts but are immobilized by fear. That’s not an excuse, but it is a reality that persists today from the rise of the Nazi Party, from the story of Sauron attempting to conquer middle earth, to the Tales of King Arthur being slain by Modred.
Vegeta became a Majin to overpower Goku, only to sacrifice himself to save his family and the people he loved. Sasuke apprenticed himself to Orochimaru, the villain, in order to seek revenge, only to return to use those ill-gotten powers to save his village. Darth Vader executed Order 66 and plunged the galaxy into 30 years of darkness out of fear of loss and yet brought balance to the Force by making the final, ultimate sacrifice to save his son.
Both in our history and our legends, many of those same people, one day, find the courage to fight back. Agents defect from the Empire and join the rebellion, people abandon the dark lord and stand up to defend their homes, old Jewish man rises in a crowd cowering at the power of a God to challenge him by reminding the people that “there will always be men like you.”
We face darkness every day and sometimes that darkness takes a firmer grip on us as a people. Like Frodo, Luke and Leia, Katniss, Percy, the Starks, and all the other great protagonists of our time, we have come to see such a time take shape.
And yet, in all of our stories, in all the adventures, fables, tales of legend, and modern-day marvels, the villains always lose; in all of human history, Empire has never survived. Tyranny has never won. The Dark Lords have never held sway over the galaxy for good.
And they won’t this time, either.
No one says it quite like Master Kenobi:
“This is Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both the Jedi and the Republic have fallen, with the dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place. This message is a warning and a reminder for any surviving Jedi: Trust in the force. Do not return to the Temple. That time has passed, and our future is uncertain. We will each be challenged. Our trust. Our faith. Our friendship. But we must persevere and in time a new hope will emerge. May the force be with you. Always.”