From a young age I grew up watching films mostly centred on the story of the Good guys and the Bad guys. As a family we watched numerous kung Fu films, martial art films in general, Disney films like Aladdin and Mulan. The most memorable films on the category of the portrayal of good and evil, has to be the Lord of The Rings trilogy.
I do not remember my mum or dad ever giving me strict ideals on the matter of good and bad. I just remembered observing my parents and my brother’s behaviours, and slowly building up a set of do’s and don’ts, which translated into good and bad. Slapping my brother (bad), helping my mum carry the shopping (good), rolling my eyes at my mum or dad (danger zone). At that time fear and not wanting to disappoint my parents played an important role in shaping my behaviour. As an adolescent, being much more exposed to different people’s ideals, religions and moral codes, my own definition of good and bad has become not as simple and clear cut. Coming from a religious background, I used my understanding of respecting and honouring people, being honest (as much as I could) and being helpful as my criteria of being a good person and follower of faith. So I didn’t enter my young adult life without morals. I’d say most of the stories my mum and dad told me when I was little about faithful people and stories that are full of wisdom have still continued to live deeply rooted in my mind. Perhaps that is why in matters of faith, I prefer stories, to the learning of the many rulings.
Both good and bad are very general terms, so here are a few synonyms of the two words so as to give a clearer description of them. Good in accordance to kindness and virtue is to be considerate, gracious, benevolent, charitable, philanthropic (feeling concern for other’s well being), exemplary (serving as an example to follow), moral, upright, honest, trustworthy and righteous. Bad in accordance to evil is to be wicked, sinful, corrupt, a criminal, immoral, vile, mischievous and disobedient.
Looking in the thesaurus I learnt that good and bad do not merely apply to good and bad human traits. All things possess good and bad traits, a good chair a bad day.
Therefore it is understandable that everyone wants a clear set of good and bad because at the core of all of us is our soul, which like a child, needs direction, guidance and nurturing. Through knowing limitations we gain principles and discipline. I unfortunately cannot provide anyone a complete understanding of the two forces, since I am still only a student of life.
I can however, draw connections between the films I have watched, how they once impacted me, and how they now have impacted me. Watching films like Kung Fu Panda and Lord of The Rings first made me want to learn martial arts and have cool armour and to always seem unfazed in the face of danger. It was not long until I realised I had no mental or physical stamina to do acrobatics or meditate. But that didn’t stop me from wishing to be strong and cool at the same time.
During the Christmas break, my brother my brothers, dad and I watched 6 films of the Star Wars franchise (more will be mentioned on Star Wars in the next blog). Yesterday my eldest brother treated me and my other brother to a trip to IMAX to watch Star Wars The Force Awakens (7th film) in 3D. Not long ago I knew very little about the Star Wars films and now, I am confident to have a long in depth conversation about them all. At first my appreciation of Star Wars was based on the Sci-Fi aspect of the films, the mystical looking planets, the wide variety of fantasy characters, the soundtrack and the famous names (Natalie Portman, Ewan Mcgregor and Harrison Ford) all made easy to watch and enjoyable films. Now that I have watched all the Star Wars films that have been released, I have had time to reflect on the themes and lessons presented in the films. The most important lesson that I have taken away from the films is the training of a Jedi. A Jedi is a person who is trained to use the force in a manner to protect people and the universal orders (balance). The force is “an energy field created by all living things”.
I did find myself wanting to fly spaceships, have battles with lightsabers (like a sword) and dress in robes with hoods. But more importantly I learnt that physical fighting is a very minute part of a Jedi’s life. The real training takes place in the mind and heart. The Jedi is trained to feel and trust in his or her inner being. Without the Jedi believing strongly in the good
force, they would not be able to fight evil with such strength.
To conclude, as my spiritual guide would say, good is what is easiest to do. I hope to one day come to more conclusions, but for now I am content and grateful for what I know and do not know.
Dear Hood-Hood 