Today I saw the movie The Giver with my friend Caitlin. It was a good movie, even greater book. To give a brief summary, The Giver is about a boy named Jonas living in a world where everything is under control; there is no war or pain or fear, everything is the same. But it got me thinking: what is a world without choices? How do we live in a world that is all the same? Is true, complete happiness and love worth giving up if war and starvation and suffering are gone too?
In the book, there are no hills, no colors, no weather, no uniqueness. In return, there is no agony, no fighting, no jealousy, discomfort, etc. The chief of the community that Jonas lives in says, "When people have the freedom to choose, they choose wrong." But we still have the right to choose, even if it is completely wrong. Who gets to be powerful enough to make the final decision that gets rid of music, race, holidays, discrimination, pleasure? Who gets to say that there will be no more freedom, even if it is in return for perfection?
While there is no pain and war (and no memory that the citizens have of it), there is still no individualism, praise, love, beauty. Is it really worth it to get rid of pain and war for the price of all that? The butterflies you get when you see your crush walking down the halls, the euphoria new parents experience when their child is born, the exhilaration of riding down the hill on a sled. All these positive feelings are lost, not experienced. And that's a shame. The amount of hurt in this world is balanced out, if not overpowered, by the camaraderie, love, beautiful emotion. Isn't it worth it to feel true happiness? To feel... real feelings?
All the bad emotions and feelings (jealousy, fear, anxiety, hatred) are a part of life. Suffering comes with being born. Who gets to say what the breaking point is when the world needs to be rid of all that? What is life without color (my favorite is yellow, by the way), options, creativity, expression of self? That is not life; that is not living. Sameness is a despicable way to be. The hurt we put on the world and the people around us is forgiven by the kindness, understanding, erasure of racial boundaries, pleasure, love. We have the right to make our own choice- really, we do. If we choose wrong, to put it simply (and less eloquently), that sucks. And we suffer the consequences. But we learn, and that just comes with humans being able to make their own decisions. If we choose right, then that is wonderful and beneficial to every one us.
We should be able to to live our free, happy lives, full of choices. One where we can express ourselves- whether it be through art, music, religion, writing, etc. I don't think there should ever come a time when everything turns to sameness. True pleasures of life are not worth getting rid of for lack of war, starvation, discrimination. Then it's not life; you're not really living. You're merely existing. Religion, family, friendship, love. Those are what make life worth living, what make all the bad stuff worth it.
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