Tonight I decided to join friends to view the Premier showing of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1 and I was incredibly impressed with its accuracy to the book and its excellent portrayal of the terrors of violence and war. This particular book in the trilogy was always my favorite and I would easily say that this movie adaptation exceeded expectations. There are two particular scenes that really stood out to me in this movie and these scenes are not what people would expect because they were short interruptions into the overall theme. [SPOILER] The first scene took place in the middle of the movie when Gale tells Katniss that they were given permission to go above ground in District 13 to go hunting. In this scene they are preparing to shoot an animal and then notice that the creature had seen them and is not moving for it does not appear scared. Katniss points out that this animal is not scared of them because it had never been hunted before. They then decided not to kill the animal and walked down by the river to sit there feeling the wind on their skin and hearing the water flow below them. This scene was so simple and yet it showed humanity and goodness in the midst of the terrible war going on all around them. While everywhere was chaotic and seemed to have no silver lining, they were able to still value the innocence of this animal and take a few minutes to experience the beauty of nature. The other scene was when they were all taking shelter on the 40th floor of District 13 and Katniss was using a flashlight to play with Prim's cat while everyone watched and laughed. This scene resulted in a revelation for Katniss, but that is not what made me enjoy it. This scene showed once again that in the midst of trials, violence, and destruction the protagonists were able to find joy in a little game. They were able to bring about a few moments of goodness.
So often in our life we get so caught up in the injustices in this world. We see all those people who have been marginalized. We feel the pain that many have felt and gone through. It can be so easy to get caught up in the chaos of life that we miss out on the little events in life. We can miss the good and develop feelings of hopelessness, when in reality there is goodness and hope all around us we just have to find it. This brings to mind something I witnessed at church during the past two weeks. We have recently gained a few younger members to our small congregation of 40 and we have the blessing of worshiping alongside these children. For the past two weeks there was been a toddler who has walked into the middle of the aisle and started dancing to the music. This little boy has no embarrassments or inhibitions, but was simply celebrating through dance. This is something we often neglect because we get caught up in tradition and even the distractions of life, but this little boy brought that into perspective for us. This little boy reminded me of the good news of the gospel. This boy reminded me that is really is GOOD NEWS. This little boy brought goodness into our little church and brought smiles to all in this busy, chaotic world.
But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs" (Matt. 19.14. NRSV).
