Saturday, September 20, 2008

the kingdom

i went to shaun and erin's after church tonight and we watched the kingdom.  with risk of sounding cliche, i'm going to jump right in.  

i am a just another stupid american who chooses to live in the bubble that is my life, pushing reality to the back of my mind--focusing on the miniscule; choosing to believe that my finite existence is the big picture.  i am put out by the slightest inconvenience and think more about myself than anything else.  i live in a very safe neighborhood in the middle of one of the richest areas in my city.  i don't worry about suicide bombers and i don't live in constant fear of my government (although, some would argue that i should).  i don't worry about men with machine guns blasting my home while i'm eating dinner.  i make a choice every day to tune out news of one more killing in a desert country i have never seen.  and i choose to forget that there are families losing loved ones possibly even as i type this.  

now, don't get me wrong.  a movie is a movie is a movie.  it's not reality.  the good guys usually win and a team of 5 can battle their way through an apartment complex to take on a hundred or so bad guys with just machine guns, a knife, and a few hand grenades.  this movie was fiction, but it was inspired by actual events...i.e. bombings at the riyadh compound on may 12, 2003 and the khobar housing complex on june 26, 1996.

life in saudi arabia is not something that my sheltered american mind can comprehend.  yes, we were attacked on 9/11, and it was terrifying...but i was not directly affected...thus making it easier to put out of my mind.  

i'm not saying i'm going to go crazy and join the army or become some weird fanatic.  i do, however, want to become more aware of the cultures in our world, and become more thankful for the freedoms i enjoy and those who work hard and give their lives so i can.  
 
so.  that said...watch the movie...and don't tune out--watching simply because it's another blow it up action movie.  watch it and realize that is the existense for someone right now. 

ps.  for another reality check, read the kite runner by kahled hosseini.

that's my soapbox for the evening.  thanks for listening.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I've had the privilege to teach some military students at Regent, and it amazes me to read the true accounts of their experiences in Iraq. The danger is abundantly real for these men. I have two friends whose husbands are serving in Iraq and Kuwait right now, and we just assume they will come back, but of course, there is no assurance of that. It does make me extremely grateful to live where I live, and realize that God has saved me from so much terror.