Star Wars--Revenge of the Sith

When I went to see Star Wars last week, it was with a need for completion. I saw the first Star Wars installment in the summer of my 12th(?) year. My best friend, Sherry, and my big sister and her boyfriend went up to Medford, Oregon that day for fun. We played miniture golf and ate out. It was a great day. On the way home, Sherry and I rode in the back of the pickup and the wind was hot on our faces. It was an exciting time in our young lives, boys were the new topic of discussion and they were noticing us too! When we passed by the drive-in on our way home, my soon-to-be brother-in-law decided to stop so we could all watch that new picture that promised us a reprieve from dull ol' earth--Star Wars. Imagine our excitement at seeing Luke Skywalker aka Mark Hamill as he battled the bad guys with his light saber! Prior to that we had been so ecstatic to watch the "foxes"of primetime TV. Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy in the Hardy Boys mysteries. Suddenly, we were offered a veritable buffet of eye candy. There he was bigger than life on the drive-in screen and a hero! We hated Darth Vader and we cheered our newfound hero. My sister was more into Han Solo and I wasn't old enough to appreciate Harrison Ford, my sister's boyfriend liked the action. So everybody found something they liked in this movie.

Over the years, new editons came out and here and there I was able to see them--usually on video. My life had become more complicated and I was in high school when Return of the Jedi came out so I didn't go to the movie to see it. I remember though the excitement that my whole town felt as the news spread that Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford were in town and shooting part of the movie there! There was the day I was standing by my locker at school and several girls came running down the hall yelling that they had seen Carrie and Harrison dining at one of our better restaurants in town (which must have been pretty grim for them)! Then there was the report that Mark Hamill had walked in to a take out burger joint in town and that the girl at the counter had fainted. This is the stuff that young girl's dreams are made of! Whether or not any of it is true didn't matter to us.

Through my life different Star Wars movies have visited the screen and I had much more to deal with than movies at those times. During my ten years of marriage I experienced quite a few arguments being drowned out by the sound of laser shots and wookies in the background on the TV. It wasn't until I had my son, and my older sister showed him Episode One that Star Wars had reentered my life. At that time, my son was about 6 and I was divorced for 3 years. My son loved watching Annikin flying the podracer and becoming the young hero. He suddenly loved podracing, Star Wars and light sabers! He would spend hours drawing podracers and even got a video game so he could race them. After a while, he lost interest and went on with new obsessions. Then Star Wars---Revenge of the Sith came out and all the old excitement was back! When we saw it together we completed the circle. I passed on the torch. Just as the movie went forward through the generational story, so did mine. I related much of the movie to my life. I had started out so green and excited just as Annikin, ready to change the world. But, in our pursuits of goodness, sometimes there are deep life changing regrets. I can't say that my life is as dark as Annikin's, I can only say that life is the teacher and the lessons can be difficult, but each generation brings a new hope for enlightenment. I'm teaching my son to banish fear, to follow his heart, to still the mind and to follow the path and not to fall into the dark side of the force. Star Wars made it easier for him to understand these concepts.