his is a bit of a ramble so bear with me :)

So I have been a casual fan of Dr. Who for a while and I have never seen the original series. The wife and I decided to watch the relaunch on Netflix instant watch (m new favorite thing). after 3 seasons I realized that Dr. Who is something I always tell people Sci-fi has the potential to be, but rarely is.

Have you every thought about mercy and grace and peace? I mean really think about them. How can we bring peace to the world? If you were given perfect wit, power, and intellect would you have the power to restrain yourself? If all you wished was to bring peace to all and you had the powers of a god could you do it?

I’m not sure if it is that every season begins at Christmas or the fact that the most powerful things in the universe are words but something in it makes me so dang excited I can’t even begin to express it. not only is The Doctor this crazy detailed image of God but he actually works in the Sci-fi world they writers created. The show is uniquely able to do some amazing things that would seem out of place or inappropriate in other context. The Doctor on the other hand is a character who I believe capable of unmatched and seemingly irrational grace and mercy. He is capable of moving freely thorough time but will not changing time but allowing free will of all humans determine the outcomes of all events. His acts are called upon by all who ask and even occasionally prayers(physic paper). now with all that said about his mercy and grace the flip-side of that is that it is said (by River Song)just his presence in the midst of those who know him can drive back armies of evil. and that at times his justice and mercy are so great that he hides it from those who it will destroy because he has mercy in a way that we don’t understand and cant comprehend.

So go watch Dr Who…I’m waiting…seriously

Once I watch the rest of the old episodes Im planning on a whole treatise on Dr Who so stay tuned for my newest obsession!

Just go see it.

I have never cried at a rap song before. This made me do it.
I have never felt so much anger in a theatre
I have never felt so ashamed of myself and my reactions to life before
I have never prayed for someone in a theatre before
I have never understood how powerful the words of scripture could be
I have never realized how grace can change so many lives so EASILY
I have never understood the Psalms until I heard the song Kim wrote and sang.
I have never been so frustrated and felt so helpless on such a large scale

As my favorite quite says I sat huddled in the dark and looked at those in the light so they could show me what it is to be Human.

go see it.  please.

On with the diatribe.

***SPOILERS FOLLOW***

We are Gordon/Dent/Dawes

I propose we are Gordon, Dent, or Dawes.  These three are the only people besides Fox and Alfred that Batman can trust.  As we mentioned before Batman would ideally like to hand the city over to them.  These three are agents of good who all have framed their ideas of justice and have presented them to the world.  they have been attacked because of their ideas (literally).  Most of us have ideas about what Justice is and even more have strong opinions about what it is not.  Just because these three are attacked for their beliefs does not mean that they have the right idea.  For the most part they all believe that the law is justice.  But Joker tears this belief apart by using his own capture as a vehicle for chaos.  Joker uses the system that is supposed to work to show the Batman that they dot hold the answer.  and as a final blow he takes out the heads of these systems.  Even more drastically he “kills”  all three of these icons of what Batman believes in.  in the end all we have left is Gordon who was never part of the system in its current form.  At the end of the film Gordon actually has the harder job of reconstructing Gotham and “capturing” Batman.

I think this is a big cue to the audience that we have to look at ourselves as these three as well.  We need to be the greatest believers in Justice, whatever it may be, and we need to stand as a beacon to those who do not know what it is, who are trapped in a battle, or who are blind to it.  There have to be people willing to sacrifice themselves for Justice so that it will survive.  Some of us need to be the support to those who are lost (Dawes), some need to be the executor of the Justice and its hands (Gordon), and some need to be the beacon of hope and an ideal to look to.  I don’t think we get to choose which one we are.

We are Gotham

We are The City of Gotham.  Pathetic, helpless, dirty, cruel, antagonistic, easily manipulated, and represented only by the weakest and strongest among us.  We need help we are creatures that can be threatened by those in charge, good or bad, and we are mechanical predictable in our reactions.  Gotham is not innocent but regardless it needs to be protected because they are beautiful and good because they are people.  This is epically important.  because they are fellow humans they deserve respect and protection and gentle care.  and at all costs to be taken care of.  because they have only seen hate, malice, and manipulation they cannot understand the efforts of good men and women who sacrifice themselves for the city.  Just as the city does, we need to recognize grace given to us and seek out those who love us and want to protect our innocence and soul.  It is no surprise that children are ones who constantly see the good in Batman and desire to be like him in Gotham.

As a memer of the city we cant try to emulate those who are fighting the good fight.  without proper education, dicipline, and understanding we will get hurt and will be used against those who are prepared to be our knights.  There are obvious ||s that can be drawn from this in every arena.  Christians, Muslim, envrionmentalists, liberal, conservatives, etc. are cursed by their “gotham” population desperately trying to be Batmans, Gordons, Dawes, Dents, or worse Foxes and Alfreds.

We are NOT Fox/Alfred

We are not Fox or Alfred.  They have no flaws.  They are our compass and light.  They guide us at our darkest times.  We feel that we have to hide our inadequacies from them and we hide the moments that we step over our boundaries. we hide our sins until we are forced to reveal to them exactly how bad we really are.  and Their reaction is always precisely and perfectly appropriate.  These men our the saints we meet once or twice in our lives.  Chances are if you are reading this you are not this person, I am quite sure I am not.  These are the men we should look to be like but we cannot make the mistake and think we are like them.

What can we learn?

I’ll leave this for you to explore on your own.  There is much more than I have discussed here but please post any thoughts in the comments.