"...and may the odds be ever in your favor..." (positive inflection, sophisticated British accent required)
I just finished reading all 3 Hunger Games books by Suzanne Collins.
Wow, good read with exciting plot twists, but also Wow that author really has a low view of humanity! The depths that humanity will descend to, just keep getting deeper book by book. (spoiler alert!) The Rebels who go back to take over the evil Capitol are just as evil ! On both sides are innocent good people, and on both sides are people hungry for power at any cost. The innocent civilians are slaughtered left and right in the thirst for domination on both sides. The emotional trauma that everyone suffers is really the main point of the story of all the surviving characters, and everyone else is blown away :< ! I'm not exaggerating here. If you care about any of the characters then you are upset at the end of the book. I was sortof traumatized just reading it and I'm an action junky. Of course I know it's only a story... And a good one at that.
| http://books.google.com/books/about/Mockingjay.html |
But it made me think about the author's message. The point is that what we humans tend to do and build can be SOOO shallow and SOOOO messed up. It is a natural result of the human propensity to mess things up that structures built by society throughout history are so flawed. It's a correct indictment on humanity that it is filled with both beauty and horrors built by our own hands. The answer is not to just write off humanity, but to PLAN on it messing everything up, and trying to build something wonderful anyway. A good marriage, a happy family, a community of believers, neighborhoods, towns, governments, non-profits, businesses, even entire religions! -- you get my point.
Just laugh (or cry) at our propensity for destruction and forge ahead anyway. Don't take it seriously or believe it when people say that we've got it right and need to stand up for the institution or the way we've always done things! The way we've always done things is messed up!
Instead of following the crowd, it is better to stand up for true humanity, to promote peace at almost any cost, the find good in people regardless of which structure of society they come from even if different from you, and please, please stop defending your own place in society so adamantly That thing you built is just as flawed as anything else!
I hope my Hunger-Games-induced epiphany is not too ridiculous for all of you!
And Welcome to the 2013th Hunger Games ! May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor!
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