Earlier
this week, my nearly-17yo son convinced me to watch The Avengers
with him. This was a big deal, because
A.)
my husband was on an overnight trip out of town, and
B.)
movies (or books) with
Yep,
I'm a scaredy cat.
Two
questions:
- Does The Avengers count as a movie with scary violence in it? Oh yeah, it does!
- Do I want to have nightmares
when my husband is away overnightanytime? No. Most definitely not.
But
Tim wanted us to do this together, so I snuggled down under the couch
afghan and cowered behind his very wide shoulders and somehow made it
through.
Thankfully,
I managed to avoid the nightmares this time.
One
reason might be the quote I took away from the movie.
Most
of my family members love to quote movies, so we're always looking
for the quirky or sarcastic or profound sound bites that we can
spring on each other later. Part of the goal is to see who can name
the movie the quote came from. Part of it is just to bond. Okay,
we're goofy, but that's how we roll!
The
Avengers had some great quotable moments. But the one that stuck
with me and made me think after the movie was finished occurred
between Loki (the bad guy) and Agent Phil Coulson from S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil (yes, his first name is “Agent”!) is wounded, sitting
on the floor, watching Loki swagger away in apparent victory.
Loki:
Am I?
Agent
Phil Coulson:
It's in your nature.
Loki:
Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the
sky... where is my disadvantage?
Agent
Phil Coulson:
You lack conviction.
You
lack conviction.
What
an incredible thought.
Loki was certainly determined. He was driven.
But he lacked conviction.
What
is conviction? Setting aside the whole courtroom context where
someone is “convicted” as guilty, what does it mean to have
conviction? Why did Agent Phil consider it vital to success?
Merriam-Webster
defines conviction as “a strong persuasion or belief; the state of
being convinced.”
A
friend of ours once said a conviction is a moral value or belief you're willing to
die for, as opposed to a preference, for which death is a little
extreme. For instance, the founding fathers of our country were
willing to die for their conviction that freedom should be equally
available to all. Martyrs are willing to die for the conviction of
their religious beliefs. But people are not willing to sacrifice
their lives for preferences.
That's
not to say preferences are bad. I prefer chicken and dumplings over
liver and onions. Given a choice, I generally prefer blue over
orange. Preferences display our differences, our uniqueness. But
they're not vital to our survival. No one should die over whether
they prefer country music over classical, Ford trucks over Dodge.
And conviction is not just a willingness to die for something. Loki was willing to risk his life, but it wasn't for a moral value. He was driven by greed, by jealousy, by an all-consuming lust for power.
That's not conviction. That's just evil.
Conviction is a vital, driving force in people of character, people
who stand for something, people who make a difference in our world.
Looking
around our country, do I see people of conviction? Do you?
When
I watch the news, I see many people who stand up and shout about
their beliefs, but are they willing to die for them? When the final
curtain comes down, will they still be standing and shouting? So
often they seem to have a cause, but not a conviction.
Yet
there are so many others who are putting out for what they
believe in, who are charging forward, who are standing firm. And
Agent Phil was right. It's because of their conviction.
There
are soldiers, largely unnoticed by our media nowadays, banding
together to risk their own lives to provide a life of freedom to
people in warring countries.
There
are groups of doctors risking their own health to provide medical
care in impoverished areas of the world.
There
are organizations of missionaries, philanthropists, and educators,
devoting their lives to benefit others.
And
there are individuals, people just like you and me, right here in our
own country, sacrificing their own comforts to help and encourage
others.
I think of my friend Reba, a former cop who became the victim of
a brutal attack and rape. After years of battling PTSD, she learned
how to gain victory over her fears, earned her PhD, and began a
counseling program to help other women. She is actvely facing her own
fears right now by taking her experiences to the road, pedaling
across America on her bike so she can meet other women with PTSD and
offer the help and hope she has found. (Read her daily blog here:
http://www.magellanlifecoaching.com/.)
I
think of Tricia, a successful author, mother, and teacher, who has
cultivated her hurtful past as a teenage mother and formed an
organization which reaches out to teenage mothers today, offering
them guidance, support, and love. She has also become an outspoken
advocate of adoption who practices what she preaches – after
rearing her own family, she recently adopted 3 preschoolers! (Connect
with Tricia here: http://www.triciagoyer.com/)
And
it makes me think of countless others I know... the retired lady who gives elderly people rides to the doctor, the pastor who goes to help a person start their car... the homeschooling family who rings a bell beside a red bucket on a sleety afternoon... the nurse who gives comfort and care in a hospice situation and sits up all night catching up on the paperwork. It's the businessmen and mothers, the DJs and
construction workers, the crossing guards and cashiers... individuals with conviction, making a
difference in their world.
Another
quote from another movie I watched with Tim this week has also stuck
in my mind.
In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,
Gandalf remarks that someone believes that “it
is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what
I have found,” he says. “I've
found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the
darkness at bay... small acts of kindness and love."
Small,
everyday deeds of ordinary folk.
That
would be you and I.
It
would be our friends and neighbors.
Ordinary
folk performing acts of kindness and love.
Ordinary
folk on a mission, fulfilling a passion, making a difference in our
world... because of our conviction.
Q4U:
(questions for you)
What convictions drive you?
Who inspires you with their conviction?
