Aaron Welty What margin exists in your life? Where does nothing less than a miracle need to happen?
How many different types of stories are there? No, I don’t mean genres like Science-Fiction or various sub-genres such as cyberpunk or space opera (i.e. Blade Runner or Star Wars; two movies with a glaring commonality). An expert in literature or well read aficionado will tell you there are only seven literary tropes or archetypes. I disagree.
Growing up watching Disney’s Pinocchio – and presently watching shows like ABC’s Once Upon a Time – you’re presented with the idea that your conscience is a good thing, right? The inner voice that keeps you on the strait and narrow, away from harm. But what about when your conscience no longer sounds like Jimminy Cricket but rather the annoying voice of one Ramona Nowitzki?
When we last left our intrepid heroes…
Moving down hallway, only stare at ceiling. Similar questions. How did it happen? FENX! They don’t understand? Phone. Facebook. Picture. Not working. Max is trying now, success. Shock and amazement: “You got hit in THAT? Can I have one?” Mind jumps to Leia in Star Wars: “You came here in that?! You’re braver than I thought!” 3…2…1…hospital bed now. Young doctor trying to talk to me; better than Dr. Allen at Shriners…
No one wakes up on a given morning thinking that they’ll be a focal point, a lightning rod, for action. You don’t think you’ll be the conduit through which community is displayed in a powerful way. It’s certainly not expected shortly after you tell a small group of men that one of the ways that community is evident is when members allow their lives to be interrupted because another needs them. Nevertheless, life has a way of being ironic.
“And God chose the foolish things of this world to confound the wise…” – 1 Corinthians 1:27
Growing up my Dad would sometimes ask me the question that I hated, the question I never had a good answer to: “Son, what would you do if we lived in a world where there was no Star Wars; what would you do without it?“
You’ve just walked out of the office into the vast marble hallway; or more likely, you just hung up the phone. This is the phone call that will change your life; everything is gravy from here on out, right? You just accepted an internship on Capitol Hill! If you’re like I was, this was the moment everything began to change – you wanted to do this for years and its happening! Now what? What do you do with the time between accepting the internship and the day you start? How do you keep your feet on the ground during your internship when your head wants to fly off into the stratosphere faster than the Apollo 11 mission to the moon?
“He will be an outcast, they’ll kill him. How? He will be like a god to them” Lara Van-El and Jor-El
Almost from the start of Man of Steel – the new, and 6th, Superman theatrical release – the impression is giving that Kal-El of Krypton is an allusion to Jesus Christ. It is unknown if this was intentional on the part of producer Christopher Nolan, writer David Goyer, and director Zack Snyder. I would argue that their intent is irrelevant, because such allusions come froth if one is true to the character.
As I was driving to church recently I pondered what I might do if someone asked me if they could buy the FENX from me. The obvious answer is “no” – unless there was was a sizable amount of money involved – but even then I know I would be hesitant. I started to think about the source of the hesitancy. First off, the FENX is awesome; who else gets to drive an electric rocket/lightcyle/X-wing cockpit on wheels? Second, I actually need it: it helps me get around town safely like nothing else can do (as my accident near the Capitol Building this week attests to). Most importantly though, is where the FENX came from: my Dad made it, for me. The source of it’s worth isn’t the impression I or others have of it. The source isn’t even it’s utility and function – what it actually helps me do. The source is the fact that Dad built it, and everything that went into building it as an expression of love and understanding to meet a legitimate need I had/have. The creator imparted value to the creation just by act of creating. As I said in the the NBC video years ago “that car is a constant reminder of my father’s love for me; there is so much love in that car“
Author, Speaker, and Super Nerd. Aaron Welty speaks and writes regularly connecting the dots of life, faith, and science fiction. Originally from Michigan, he now lives and works in the Washington, DC metro area.