Freedom Writers

Before I head out for a lunch appointment with a good friend of mine (we are going through the book, From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics together), I thought I’d comment about a couple things that came together over the past several days for me. As Cristina has been teaching, she wanted me to find some information on Sarah Winchester, whose Mystery House is not far from here. Sarah’s story is tragic. Lost an only child to death and then lost her husband a year later. All this, with her multimillion dollar fortune inherited from the Winchester bloodlines (creator of the Winchester Repeating Rifle), she decided to rebuild a house.

However, she decided to visit a medium to discover what she could do with her pain. The medium told her that as long as a hammer continued banging away at her house, all the spirits of those who had been killed by the rifle would not bother her. So, she built this elaborate house, with staircases to ceilings, etc. Sad.

I was then reminded from the message this past week about the sadness of the final years of Howard Hughes’ life. A recluse who lived in jaded fear. Both these people, isolated, lonely, entirely too fearful.

Commonality? Among other things, fear. How does fear direct our lives? Fear to speak forth when words are necessary? Fear to be silent when words aren’t necessary. Fear to launch due to failure? Fear to admit weakness and failure when it does occur? How is it that fear drives?

Again, my guess is we rarely pause to take stock of our fears and how they play out in our lives. Courage is not the absence of fear but the pushing on through fear, believing in a higher vision, a deeper calling, a life-altering value. Fearing the unknown, we settle for simplicity and apathy.

Having watched Freedom Writers with Cristina this past week, I could not help but see how fear did not force a teacher out, nor her students and their willingness to seek a better life than what they or their parents had. The death of football player Sean Taylor is the a sad reminder. Too early to tell (I’m sure someone knows something), but if someone is trying to break away from a checkered past to a more glorious future, there may be some not happy. Having lived in Miami, grown up in Chicago, the ridicule and scorn can create fear. Yet, as the movie depicts, the courage of students to move forward is more than encouraging. It is miraculous. As was mentioned in the film, they are the “heroes.”

A word on heroes—they are not perfect but they do not let fear dictate the terms of life!

BTW, waiting for the local library to notify me that a copy is ready for me. Can't wait to read it...