“May the Force be with you.” – frequent quote from all six Star Wars films (and surely, by now, a truly uncountable number of books, video games and toys)
My good and wise friend, Obi-Wan, talks a lot about the Force. If you haven’t watched the movies you’ll have no idea of what I’m referring to so go watch the original trilogy right now.
Excellent. What does the Force mean for the writing within this little blog? Well, first off, we have to all understand that the Force isn’t real. Star Wars isn’t real. The Galactic Empire isn’t real. Yes, that’s right. The six movies are fiction, boiled from the creative juices of Mr. George Lucas, and are not based on reality. Take a few deep breaths if you must first come to grips with that. I’ve heard about some folks that have taken a few too many steps into that murky realm of Wanting-It-To-Be-So but that’s not where I’m coming from. Fear not, I’m just using the movies’ term to bridge between our real life and the Obi-Mom Kenobi theme.
Having said that, I see myself possibly using the term Force to describe such higher-order ethical ideals as beneficence, nonmaleficence, fidelity, responsibility, integrity, justice, and respect. Those wonderful ideals we should all be living towards, although few generally do. Perhaps I’ll head off into a scientific direction and use it to describe the immutable laws of nature or specific scientific theories. I may use the term to encompass a large and varied collection of ideas depending on the situation, but if I do I promise to give sufficient warning to my then current bent.
Either way, there are some truly excellent Obi-Wan quotes from the films which I will borrow and use without any sense of guilt or shame (having given proper credit and identification as required by law and personal integrity). Some quotes will express my hopes and beliefs and some will peek into my deepest fears about the role of mother, teacher and guide to a bright, young man of the 21st Century.
