Things I Have Learned from Star Wars III

We have not let the children see Star Wars III in the past due to lots of violence and a little bit vivid body burning at the end. But finally, we broke down and let them watch it for our Stay-cation this week. During the day. With all the lights on. And much popcorn! But as I sat watching it, I was struck by how many things in that movie can really be lessons for us adults.

1. Small wrong choices can lead to disasterous ends. Many smaller choices Anakin made in the beginning led to him becoming Darth Vader. Such as when he executed Count Dooku in the name of "justice". Talking with Chancellor Palpatine so often when many people, including his wife, warned him that he did not seem to be everything he was showing to others. And even getting married in the first place! (Not that I'M against marriage, but a Jedi is never supposed to marry!) Little steps down the wrong path.

Many times we are told, don't drink, don't smoke, don't hang out with those people. Most of the time people are trying to help you. We decide (in our pride) to fight against the advice people give us. We choose to have just a little drink. And then a little more. And eventually, you are out partying with the wrong sort of people getting drunk almost every weekend. Little steps down the wrong path.

2. Pride is one big disasterous cloud that can impair our vision. When Anakin starts feeling the power he has over others, he gets that "big head" syndrome. He feels like he is better than all and knows more than all. We can sometimes get this way in our lives. Of course, this leads him to do the one thing he was trying to prevent from happening: injuring (and eventually killing) his wife Padme.

3. We have to remember other people's motives for what they do. This can cause them to make decisions later on that do not mesh with your decisions. All of the Storm Troopers are people who represented the Republic and their interests. When the Jedis "became" an enemy to the Republic, the Storm Troopers turned on them in a heartbeat and without remorse. They had seen their role in the picture; the Jedis were surprised by this and without defense.

Too many times in my life, I have had people I considered friends. I would have done almost anything for them just to have them turn around at a later time and look after their own interests. You may say to yourself. "Well, these are not the kind of friends anyone wants." And that may be true, but never cause yourself to be thrown off your path of values and make choices you regret later in life because of someone else who may be just a "ship passing in the night". You may also be surprised and without defense.

4. Marriage is only working when two people trust each other, open up about their fears honestly, and share everything with each other. Anakin married Padme who he loved soooo much. So much so that he defied the Jedi laws to marry her secretly. But when he started to have fears about her death, he became secretive and irrational. He made bad choices. Choices in the end that destroyed his relationship.

Too many couples today believe in that fairy tale love that we see in the movies and read about in books, and don't realize the reality: hard times will follow. I have been married for 11 years now and can safely say there have been good times and there have been bad times. Obviously, I liked the good times better, but I found that the bad times don't have to be so bad when you have someone to share that burden with. They can help you up when you fall down and vice versa. Sharing your fears with them allows them to understand why you are doing the things you do and say. It helps them stay rational and find ways to make the situation better.

5. It is not the size of your light sabre that matters, but the faith, experience, and expertise behind it. Yoda is one small guy... er... person.. thing? Anyways, and he has one small light sabre when you compare it to many of his opponents. But he has over 600 years of experience to back up his fighting skills. He knows he can do it. He believes in the force. He trains. And he always comes out of the battle. He may not of won it, but he lived to fight another battle and train others.

As people on this earth dealing with so many crazy things going on in our lives, we tend to feel like the undersized Yoda. But instead of the force, we have faith! We train by praying, reading our scriptures, and going to church. This way we know what decisions we want to make when the time comes to make them in the future. We rely on God's experience to help us make decisions. And He has a lot too being as He has been around since before the beginning! This builds our faith and allows us to share it with others, just like Yoda did with Luke in later movies. He shared his knowledge and made Luke a better person for it. We too can share our beliefs with others... So let our light shine and help others decide to be a better person in the future.

I know. This is a wierd post from me, and I am not a Star Wars junkie. I leave that to my son. But the more I thought on it, the more similiar it seemed to our lives in reality. So there is my take on it.

Garage Sale Prep

I know. I must be abusive to myself. For I am having a garage sale next week. It will be kinda crazy, but we have too much stuff that I need to get rid of. I have never had a garage sale myself before, but have been to tons of them. I think I have looked at enough web sites as well to figure out tips to have a successful sale. This will help clear out our garage though. And make a little extra cash for us in the meantime.

When we first moved in, we cleared out the garage for the most part so we could get our two cars in it when the bad weather came through town. I started to notice there was a lot of stuff I needed to get rid of that I wasn't going to find a place for in our new house. So it started getting to be a pretty big pile in our garage and we couldn't park in there so easily anymore. Since I figured out that I wasn't going to be able to participate in the really good consignment sales anymore in Omaha for getting rid of my kids' clothing, I figured a garage sale might be the best way.

So, if anyone has any tips to help this go smoother, I welcome them. I am going to let the boys make a little extra money by selling cold bottled water and homemade cookies. I hope it goes well. *sigh* Pray for us. This might be harder than moving.