July 27, 2011
Holding out for a Hero
To quote a song from the 80’s…
Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods?
Where’s the street-wise Hercules
To fight the rising odds?
Isn’t there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and turn and dream
of what I need
I need a hero
I’m holding out for a hero ’til the end of the night
He’s gotta be strong
And he’s gotta be fast
And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight
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Oh yes, whether he’s on a silky white horse with a shining uniform, or fresh from a brawl with a little blood on his face and a torn shirt, every woman has a hero in her mind.
It starts with Disney, filling our impressionable little minds with visions of Prince Whoever fighting all the odds to come to the rescue of Princess Whatsername so they can live… want to say it with me? “Happily Ever After”.
Mention Amanda Seyfried in a room of teenage girls and you’ll hear a collective swoon. Seems she’s in every sappy love story filmed in the past 5 years.
A few years ago, my daughter’s friend told her “Oh wow! You’ve found your Edward!” Now, I am a pretty cool mom if I do say so myself, so I knew when she mentioned Edward, she was speaking of the main male character from the “Twilight” series. I thought about it, and Megan’s boyfriend didn’t have a fast silver Volvo, he didn’t sparkle in the sunlight, and he wasn’t an undead vampire. So, how do they compare? He was dangerous. He was dark. Most mortals stayed away from him.
In the story, and in most stories, the male lead is dark, dangerous, misunderstood. But he loves his girl. He’ll never hurt his girl, never leave her side. The love they have is a bond unbreakable by time, space, parents, or death. And they will live happily ever after.
So we are in the world, looking for our Edward, looking for our Ren (from the movie I quoted at the beginning), looking for our Beast. Well, here’s the thing: they are all made up characters! There is no human love that equals the love written about in these stories! To try to replicate it is an exercise in futility. To hold out for a hero is to waste a heart. We are human. We are flawed, we are broken, we are full of sin. Even our love is not perfect. Our love is fleeting and conditional, a flower that begins to die even as it blooms. And when our simple, human love dies, we are left feeling betrayed, fooled, cheated by Disney, 20th Century Fox, most publishing houses and magazines because it didn’t turn out like it was supposed to.
A Hero? A real hero, a man considered dangerous, who walked in a different direction than the rest of the world, who loved me so deeply, so passionately, so fiercely that he allowed himself to be beaten, mocked, tortured and killed so that I don’t have to know a fraction of that pain. Only one man ever loved me that much, even though I prove daily that I am not deserving of that love. There is only one love that the little-girl-heart in me can find all the comfort and acceptance I crave. That’s the love of Jesus Christ.
