The glory of God is the human being fully alive.”
~ St. Irenaeus of Lyon (AD 202)
Last evening, I watched a full movie on Netflix. Now please understand that I usually need to watch movies in two parts-- due to my poor eyesight & small size of my Kindle Fire tablet.
I had first encountered the story in _The Giver_ as a teen novel written by Lois Lowry. The novel, required reading for my Teen Literature course in college, is set in a futuristic society where Sameness is the law of the land. Each Family Unit {one woman, one man and two children-- one of each gender} live in Dwellings in perfectly manicured lawns. Each resident, in a coming-of-age Ceremony, is told what their future job will be-- the Sameness & a big brother-type government that would make libertarian-leaning conspiracy theorists soil their pants-- assigns each person a job.
Jonas, our hero {there are no last names here} is the last one of his graduating class who had not been assigned. the Chief Elder {played brilliantly by Meryl Streep} then tells the Community that Joans has been chosen to be the next Receiver of Memories. This person, who is held in high esteem by everyone, advises the Elders by looking back into history to a time before Sameness. Jonas immediately begins training with the current Receiver {played by Jeff Bridges} Jonas asks his trainer what he should call him, and the old man says, "Call me The Giver".
The Giver transmits memories of things such as snow, music, dancing. Joans begins to notice colors in a world that became neutral in hue many years ago. The Giver also tells Jonas that he needs to stop taking the daily injections that each Community member takes in the morning. By doing so, Jonas learns what emotions are; and for the first time can feel LOVE.
I won't give away any more plot points, but the movie had me musing about what it means to be " fully human". After all, we are messy creatures: with our capacity to communicate comes the various emotions that are part of living as a human.
In order for the Communities in the book & novel to exist without conflict or pain, all memories and emotions associated with those experiences were taken away and {somehow} stored within the mind of the Receiver of Memories.
Seeing all that Sameness portrayed in black and white and the sterility of the Community members other than Jonas and his mentor made me sad. I cannot imagine living in a sterile society without colors, changing seasons, art and music.
But most of all, I cannot imagine life without emotions. While it is true that emotions can be trouble for us if we cannot control them, but the ability to love others is essential to our humanity.
We have a Creator that loved humanity so much that The Creator became human-- complete with all our messiness-- and walked among other humans. Our Creator loves Creation so much that They chose to humble Themself and be born in human flesh. Our Creator knows intimately how humans are made--- and trusts us with the gifts given to us that make us different from other creatures.
Thank God that we are not living in Sameness.
In the Name of the Holy Three....
Sarah McCarren
1/19/2022
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