Maybe we're just the regular people
There is a reoccurring line from Aidan Broom in Zach Braff's latest film, Wish I Was Here, that has stuck with me in the days since seeing it:
When we were kids, my brother and I used to pretend that we were heroes, the only ones who could save the day. But maybe we're just the regular people, the ones who get saved.
[You can rest easy, there are no spoilers to follow, but I do highly recommend seeing the film with a group.]
Ask any parents or individuals who work with children, or if you can harken back to your own past to see as we grow and develop we move from a self understanding to a we understanding. We see and understand how our interactions and the actions of others effect one another - in some ways we are continually seeing the larger picture.
There is no set point of arrival and only afterwards are we able to identify where others are wrestling with letting go of their importance. Yet this hope for more that remains. A hope to matter, to be the hero, to save the day, to live a life of great importance. But the harsh reality is that for every radical world changer there are millions, if not billions, of others of us who are simply regular.
For every Moses, there is a tribe of Israel.
This is not to say that the masses place is somehow less than the outlier. But this is how it is often understood and so we attempt back track our development in many ways and look to how to better ourselves - to focus on our story, our impact, our happiness.
More often than not we do this at the expense of the world we are trying to impact. We hold our calling, our dreams, our hopes, our words, actions, and intentions as some thing above another's - and it gets even more messy when these convictions get laced with spiritual or faith undertones.
Why is it so hard for us to see ourselves as regular?
Is there anything wrong with being normal?
Is there some thing wrong with being the one saved?
In Wish I Was Here, Aidan is overwhelmed by the weight of bad news, his father's response to his question of 'what do we do?' with:
Move forward. It’s the only direction God gave us.
Our world and life is always moving forward. Might this be one of the mysteries of life, how do we move forward together well?
How do we immerse ourselves in the here and now in a matter that looks out for each other AND ourselves?If we are comfortable with seeing life as a story, may we remember that without the full cast participating in the story, it can not unfold in the manner it should. The story and the production would somehow be... less.
So may we be humbled.
May we be reminded.
May we be regular.
May we be saved.