Today I finished reading the "Hunger Games" series for the second time. Though this processes there are a lot of parallels I could draw from our society to the one that Susan Collins created. If you know nothing about Hunger Games, where have you been in the past 3 months???. More seriously Here is a quick summary.
It is the Story of two kids and how they go from kids to adults and lead a rebellion over the over opressive capitol. And how they become unwilling faces of the rebellion.
The first time I read the books I read them for pure plessure. it was all about just reading them because some friends were also reading the books. The second time it was fueled by the movie coming out and the fact that my fiance (Michelle, yes we are engaged) was reading them as well. So I started the journey again, and decided to read them to really analyze them. Like I would for a history or english class. I came to a few relatzations.
1. We are on a road where this could really happen, a rebellion I mean. Look at us as a Country we are falling apart and every day I feel like we are falling further and further back to where we should be. Our Government almost shut down, and we all just sat back and watched what they were doing. Which amounted to nothing. I think in the next 100 years we truly could be fighting for a new government.
2. The role I play in the world, what kind of man am I. I like to say I am Peeta which is the male lead. It isn't for the same reasons if I was young which would amount to he is the leader. But It is just his character, When I look at myself in the mirror I see myself as this: Some one who doesn't want a super mega Juggernaut to rule me. I don't want to be apart of anyone's games and when I die I hope people remember me as me. I think I have a self deprecating humor about me that is apart of my charm. I am not afraid of looking like a fool or weird, in fact I embrace it. So in some ways I am Peeta.
3. We need to stop watching reality TV, it is ruining us. We have a lot of shows on Television today that having nothing positive about them. Jersey Shore, American Idol, Survivor, 16 and Pregnant, and Teen Mom. We watch them to laugh because it is funny. Look at American Idol for instance, I can honestly say that I have not watched it in the past 3 years for the Talent. I have watched to laugh at the people who think they can sing but can't and freak out. I watched 10 seconds of Jersey Shore just to see Snooki get punched in the face. I could go on but I think you get the point. We spend too much time watching "reality" TV when there is nothing true about it. I once heard Matt Smith give a talk at a Stubenvillie Summer Conference. He was talking about his "Real World" experience, and if you didn't know "The Real World" was a show on MTV and was one of the first reality TV shows. He briefly talked about the people on the show and how MTV will never have some one like him on the show again because he goes and even on the show to daily Mass. it insprised everyone to go to their respective denominational Church. It really mixed things up but he wasn't crazy enough. They even said to him they couldn't make "that mistake again". They did not like how the show was't like all of the other seasons. Because one man had the guts to bring some change.
Today it all made sense to me. There is a quote in Mocking Jay the third book of the series, and I don't know if I missed it or just didn't care about it during the first read though but it goes like this:
..."Now we're in that sweet period where everyone agrees that our recent horros should never be repeated,"..."But collective thinking is usually short lived. We're fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self destruction. Although who knows? Maybe this will be it,..."-Plutarch
Maybe what struck me is how true it really is. We keep making the same mistakes, not just in this country but abroad. We are the people making the choices God just gives us the choices.
God Bless America, give us the wisdom to learn from our mistakes and not commit them again.
