Julie's increased nighttime work hours and my failing video card has left me watching a bit of anime that I have had for a while now. Anime is a funny thing. It's easy to assume just cartoon when there is really as many types and forms as there are types of comedies or dramas. It's really just another medium, but with subtitles or really bad dubbing.
I prefer the kind that at least tries to explain a little philosophy or psychology, though I think they get most of it wrong. This of course, is my western philosophy/theology coming out, but it's my opinion and no one really reads this anyhow, so who's going to care? :)
One thing that I've long struggled with both in western and eastern though is the concept of the hero. People aspire to be heroes. The one that saves the day. The one that everyone praises. The one that everyone respects.
Just one problem: that's not a hero.
Worn out is the concept of a single glorifying moment that establishes you in the pantheon of greatness among others who have achieved great deeds. But heroes are not born in greatness, they are the ones that have greatness thrust upon them, and they have the scars to prove it. Heroes do live out their lives in comfort and luxury. They are heroes because they have made the sacrifices that no one else could. They sacrifice time, money, happiness, sometimes blood, sometimes their own lives, for the betterment of others. They did not ask to be in the situation that they are in, but instead just resolve it and try to get on with their lives, assuming they survive the ordeal.
A hero must suffer.
A hero must feel pain.
A hero must lose what is important to him.
Who wants that?
I'm selfish. I want to be happy. I don't want others to have to be heroes so that I may live my life in peace. And yet, I hope that if a situation were ever to arise, that I would be able to make the sacrifices necessary to do the heroic thing.
It feels like that should be ironic, but it mostly just makes me lose my appetite to be thinking about that kind of thing.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment