Remember when the biggest thing everyone on social media was freaking out about was the last season of Game of Thrones? Ah, for those heady days. Seems like another lifetime. And yet, there were hints at things to come in that. A rage against things not turning out the way we envisioned them. A denial of what was happening. A belief that if we just got enough people to jump on board, we could rewrite what had transpired and pretend that the last season didn't happen. Within the story there were foreshadows of things to come as well. An army of darkness marching forth to kill us all. Political intrigue. Betrayals. Indifferent, cruel leaders with extreme lack of sympathy for their people. A world where a few people try to tell the rest that there is trouble brewing, that the Night King was on his way. That we had to prepare. And most people ignoring these unpleasant predictions. Worrying about money and their fair share of it. Worrying about this ephemeral thing called power.
We watched the scene from episode three this morning on YouTube, the one where Arya takes out the Night King. For me, that was one of the best, most exciting, unexpected moments in the series. And yet it totally fit. Here's this young woman who had been through the worst things imaginable, from watching her father getting his head chopped off to slavery, using all her experiences, to rise up and take out this nasty evil blue dude who seems intent on killing the world. I know some people wanted the classic hero versus hero fight of Jon Snow going one on one with the Night King in an epic sword fight. But not me. I watched Game of Thrones because it didn't follow the tropes, doing the same old thing we've all seen time and time again. I loved having the world saved by a young woman at the last moment. I love hope springing up from unexpected places. I love the forgotten finding strength. I love moments that feel true, not contrived to please what the fans want. Not that there's anything wrong with those kinds of stories. They exists for a reason. They just don't feed my soul.
Watching that scene again this morning I felt like we are all Arya. We've all seen terrible things these past few months. Months that feel like years. We've seen a strange new threat pop up out of nowhere, in a distant land, grow exponentially. We've seen friends and family laid to waste. As of today, in less than a year, over 175,000 people have died here in America. Worldwide, we are closing in on 800,000. That's more than the population of Denver. On top of that, we live in a country divided, angry, and lost. For months now, protests have raged in city after city over systemic racism. On top of that, the world is on fire. Here in Colorado, the sky is a sickly brown. Everything stinks of smoke and disaster. In California, the size of the fires is greater than the state of Rhode Island. We are being put to the test in ways we haven't been since World War II. Put bluntly, we have seen some serious shit.
Like Arya, we have to overcome our rage, our woes, and our grief. We have to remember who we are and what's important. We have to let go of the past, find our souls, and in the darkest moment, leap up to strike down hate and ignorance.
And we will.
We will speak truth to power. We will not deny what is happening to our world. Covid, global warming, racism, economic inequality- they all have to go. And we are the chosen ones to do this monumental, seemingly insurmountable task. It will take sacrifice. And courage. And hope. And Love.
But we shall overcome.
When the Night King grabs us by the throat, and all seems lost, we will find the strength to do what must be done.
What do we say to the God of Death?
Not today.
Here's the scene I was talking about.
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