Last evening, my wife asked me to take her to see the movie The Hunger Games. She had already read the books, and wanted to see the movie. I had not read the books, but I agreed to take her to see the movie. Plus, it was a great opportunity to have “date night” with my wife – something that doesn’t happen all that often.
I went with an open mind, not knowing anything about the movie at all. In fact, I had never even seen a preview or read a review. I was going in as a completely uniformed viewer. And that’s not always a bad place to be.
In a relatively short time, the overall theme came bursting through the screen. Now, if you are unfamiliar with the books or the movie, The Hunger Games is a young adult novel written by American television writer and novelist Suzanne Collins. It is written in the voice of sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic worked in the country of Panem where the countries of North America once existed. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, holds hegemony over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 from each of the 12 districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle in which only one person can survive.
Throughout the movie, these children and teens are battling it out in order to be that last surviving victor. In other words, they will do whatever it takes to win – including killing the other children and teens. I couldn’t help but to be slightly nauseated at the overall concept of kids killing kids. In fact, I was having nasty dreams of this throughout the night. The thought of children killing children is just wrong. And maybe that’s the point that this book and movie is trying to make.
During the past couple of months, the news has been filled with children being killed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Our inner cities have been inundated with senseless violence. Children have been caught in the crossfire while simply playing in their yards. When will it stop?
Toward the end of the movie, the two teens that are still alive were faced with the decision on who was going to survive to win the game. Ultimately, they chose not to take the life of one, but to end both lives at the same time. But the game was called off before they took this action. Someone had the guts to step in and stop the insanity.
In our society, we need to be that person who will step in and stop the insanity. God does not want us to kill others, physically, spiritually, or emotionally. We need to become the hands and feet of God and to go out and make a difference in the world. We need to love others. We need to help others. We need to tell the world that life is a gift, and we are not to take that away from anyone.
Let’s stop the violence. Let’s stop the killing. Let’s stop the pain. Let’s stop the insanity.
And let us live the Gospel. For it is then when we hunger no more.
