Hi kids!
So I have not posted in a week. Been reading, and then reading a second time, the marvelous "Conquering Venus" from award-winning poet and playwright, Collin Kelley. I'll be posting a full review very soon.
Other stuff:
Had a wonderful visit with my Dad--John, only a few weeks ago(but miss him so much already, it feels like he's not been here, in years).
We visited "Big Canoe", a resort-like community in the North Georgia mountains. Tiny cottages, mid-sized houses, and sprawling estate homes, all co-exist in a densely wooded(think "Pan's Labyrinth", without the scary)forest. The amenities include paddleboating, canoeing, kayaking, on your choice of three lakes (one of which is huge, and completely God-created), fishing, swimming in three pools, hiking, etc. We just visited for a couple of hours, but it felt like a relaxing vaction.
We wanted to go see a film, too, but I had to be convinced to go see a film about war. In my trek to become more Peace-filled, war, or films that champion war,are not a thing(s) I support.
And my Dad disagrees on whether peace is ever possible.
My Dad: "Well, Lisa, do you REALLY BELIEVE World Peace is possible someday?"
"I absolutely do. In fact, I believe it's MORE LIKELY, than not, Dad."
"Really?!" he asked, incredulously.
"I do!"
The conversation could've become heated, and my Dad has "pushed it" before, but since I'm all-about-the-peace, I decided to simply smile sweetly.
What I Didn't Say(but what I truly believe):
"One day, everyone will figure out it's too costly--in terms of dollars, AND PEOPLE--to keep fighting one another. It's a ridiculous, outdated method of dealing with each other. It makes no sense."
So......in the in-town-Atlanta-things-we-did-category, we saw a great little film called "Hurt Locker", and it feels like a film about war, for people who never go to what my ol' Grandpa Reed Allender would call a "war picture".
It centers around explosive-device experts, and the ever-impending loom of death these brave soldiers face, every day in the "new wars" of Iraq and Afghanistan. (IED's being the preferred weapon instituted by those fighters.) The film explores the tenacity, the mistrust, and the unlikely brotherhood that is formed because of the interactions our soldiers and even those they must fight, create. I seldom recommend a "war" film, but this one is a requirement, in order to better understand the incredible sacrifice made every day, by these brave young men and women.
The film was directed by a woman, Kathryn Bigelow, best-known for her 1991 surfer/bank-robber-film, "Point Break". While researching her, I discovered she's a very talented painter, and it is easy to believe, since her filmed images of desert cities at dusk, sandstorms and explosions, achieve icon-status.
When you go to see it, be like a soldier with heightened awareness: if you do, you'll spot an extremely well-known, Academy-Award-winning actor, in a pivotal, but un-credited, cameo role.
Peace, kids.
9 comments:
I think peace is possible as well. If you think about peace and war...
Our nations are like people, really. The makeup of the actual people of the country constitutes, in a way, one individual person that makes decisions, has opinions, and reacts to things as a person does. Forgetting where we are now, America before World War 2, was proud, and in many ways selfish and uncaring of others. And what does that sound like? The Americans that made up the country at that time.
Moving on from that, have you ever met someone who lives a drama filled life? Someone who, on any given day, is yelling at someone, or fist fighting, or is being yelled at, and never seems to be able to escape? I think we all know someone like that, or have been someone like that.
And that's what our world is today. Someone who has never seen a week go by without someone over-reacting, or being petty or cruel, and who therefore can't imagine that there is a life where people, even with great problems, are able to handle them in a non-violent way.
For a real person, it usually means taking them out of that environment for a while. We obviously can't do that with nations. But I like to think it's possible to transcend what appears to be our nature in some other way.
If you think about it, it has been a very small sliver of time where our world has even been connected in any real tangible way. We rarely kill in our own families, but it's much easier to kill a stranger. But how long, really, has it been that we knew anything at all about what was happening even a state away?
Keith--Hi there. I agree with alot of what you say. Ya lost me, however there at the end, with:
"...at all, about what was happening, even a state away?"
Where you seem to believe we're not connected "enough"(and I agree we do not share true intimacy with other peoples, & nations, very often), we are actually over-hyped, amped-up, overly-aware of everything bad happening, EVERYwhere. The result?
Perhaps we're becoming numb, desensitized to all the tremendous violence we see/hear about, every second, in every corner of this world, via Twitter, Facebook, internet 'zines, tv, etc, etc.
But Peace?
Still possible. It begins here, with kind, civil, discourse. And a big hug, and patience. ;)
Peace yo.
Glad you had a ball and enjoyed your time with Dad. I am a peacenik to but being a realist I have to agree with your Father. Peace is beautiful but it will only happen in our minds because we are not pulling the strings the warring Governments are. Give my regards to your dad!
You sure know how to build anticipation ... both for Colin's Conquering Venus and for Hurt Locker. Thanks too for the info on the director, who seems like a film genius.
"Big Canoe" sounds like something from another time...fascinating!
(Don't you love it when the Word Verification is a real word? The one right now is "patio."
I too, am a pacifist. If I could have but one wish, it would be world peace.
I must say though, soldiers and explosive experts, etc, etc, are just doing the jobs that they themselves chose to do. Their reasons for doing them are as varied as the people themselves. Are they dangerous jobs? Most assuredly, but so is working as a clerk in a 24 hour convenience store.
I believe the word 'sacrifice', much like the word 'hero', has been perverted in this era of agrandizement.
Average Patriot--Yeah, I'm discovering more women believe Peace is actually do-able, possible. Not one man I've polled so far, has said it's likely, and only two have sid it's possible(I've asked about 50, so far!).So I hear ya, Patriot, I do.
My Dad is great. I'll be posting pics soon!
Lydia--Thanks honey. I'll provide a link to "Big Canoe" later today--it'll be under "Poets, Bloggers, and Others" at Lisa Allender Writes.
Brother Tim--Hi fellow-pacifist!
You're correct that "sacrifice" may be over-used. In this case, though, I'll stand by using it to describe what these fellas go through(and yes, they certainly "chose to" volunteer for service, but that doesn't mean it's less work, or sacrifice).
Peace,yo.
I meant that it hasn't been very long since we have known what was happening nearby, and while it may be true that it's desensitizing us in some ways, it does other things as well.
The advent of twitter and video recording, for instance, makes it very difficult for the government to control how much information they give us about fatalities and spinning the story, something that in WW2 was very much easier than it was in Vietnam or the Iraqi War. I don't mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist, or anything, but it is true that the Vietnam War greatly affected how the public saw war.
Keith--Oh, I definitely agree with you here! We certainly understood war on a completely different level during the first "televised war"---Vietnam.
Hi Lisa
Funny the way men generally think alike as do women but often in different directions. I will look forward to seeing pictures of your father!
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