Resistance Is NOT Futile
I was watching a Doctor Who episode entitled Bad Wolf tonight and I loved this exchange:
Dalek: We have your associate. You will obey or she will be exterminated.The Doctor: No.
Dalek: Explain yourself.
The Doctor: I said "No."
Dalek: What is the meaning of this negative?
The Doctor: It means "No."
Dalek: But she will be destroyed.
The Doctor: No, because this is what I'm going to do, I'm going to rescue her. I'm going to save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet, and then I'm going to save the Earth, and then, just to finish off, I'm going to wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky.
Dalek: But you have no weapons, no defenses, no plan.
The Doctor: Yeah, and doesn't that scare you to death?
This is more than just bravado. This sums up for me the essential spirituality of Doctor Who - Resistance Is NOT Futile. In the face of false dichotomies and overwhelming odds there are always choices, and accepting the ones offered to you is often just plain stupid. Life is seldom "either or."
Further, the powers that be will always threaten to take away the things you love if you fail to obey. Don't believe them. They can't take what they can't comprehend.
Comments
So, humor me--who do you consider "they," or the "powers that be." What makes them different than you or me? Why can't they comprehend the same things we do? Humor me. I need some intellectual give and take that doesn't involve tattling, or diapers, or broken appliances, or my sister griping because their dog eats their furniture, or the chimeric soap opera (is that ANOTHER head) that is my inlaw family (and I thought my family was nuts). I hate call week. No real thoughts here--I think we all have different "theys"--just wondered who yours are.
Oh, I guess this is a real thought (I try). In dramatic situations like the one you described, I do find it just as inspiring, if you will, if there really is no other solution--if you have to accept the crappy ending in order to do what is right--and you do so anyway. Ultimately, of course, you are victorious in God; I hope that, were I ever in such a situation (and people are, probably everyday), I would remember that.
Posted by: Leah | June 28, 2007 7:13 AM
Short hand answer - the powers and principalities.
Long hand answer (if there is such a thing but I suppose there must be) - the entity to which a person belongs when they say things like "I'm just doing my job" or "I'm just following orders" or "it's nothing personal but I have to take your house" or "sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm afraid I have to kill you now" and so on.
Posted by: ironic1 | June 28, 2007 7:23 AM
Christopher Eccelston as the Doctor - brilliant. Him showing up in Series one of Heroes was brilliant too.
Beyond that - a great example of doing that which may seem extraordinary, but is entirely motivated out of love/concern for others. If we are serious about caring for those around us, then the situation is never lost, and we must never accept that which seems for it to be... or so I reckon... :)
Posted by: themolk | June 28, 2007 6:40 PM