the Virginia Tech Shooter is all over the papers and all over the newsit is hard to think about anything else...
the iron giant
as a parent I get to see some great movies over and over and then over again
the incredibles is one of my favorites
not just because of the likeness of Mr. Incredible to Chet Culver
but because I think that this story talks about some of the issues that men deal with when they grow older and settle into the role of father and provider
another classic film from the mind of Brad Bird is the Iron Giant
some reflections on the shootings at Virginia Tech on CityBikesMike's Blog had me thinking of parenting and this film
I like Mike, immediately thought of my family, namely my children
and the helplessness of any individual who was a victim of this madman with a gun
okay... madman has too cool of a spin
this loser with the gun
okay... that is not fair to all the losers out there
to think of this incident I can not help but think of the parents of these children
the nightmare that they are living
the painful question, WHY?
in the Iron Giant the metal robot learns that he is a being of free choice
that he can choose between right and wrong
although he was programed to be a weapon of mass destruction
in the end he decides to act not on impluse but on thought
movies like this can be the basis of a child's understanding
it is not enough for the kids to watch Star Wars
without a discussion of the actions in the film they will just walk away saying, "Darth Vader is cool! I want a cape!"
when they should get a lesson where they learn that all the characters in that film were animals of free choice
each individual had a chance to choose between right and wrong
the dark side was part of them
when they let the part become the whole
that was when they became evil
this shooter was an animal of free choice
sick or depressed?
there is no justification
this is too disturbing to try and figure out
my heart goes out to all those that lost friends and family because of the actions of this one very disturbed individual