A Nation of Narcissists?
"I'M ENTITLED..."
In the film American Beauty, the character played by Kevin Spacey is fired from his job. He seeks revenge by threatening to reveal embarrassing facts about his boss, who then gives him a large sum of money disguised as severance pay. The character goes on to have various adventures in an attempt to “find himself,” including falling in lust with his daughter’s teenage girlfriend. Unfortunate results ensue.
A frequently heard topic of conversation involves the search for “who we are” and the effort to become “comfortable” with it. It is as if “who we are” is something that detectives must uncover.
On the contrary, I believe “who we are” is what we do and how we act toward others. True, there is an inner world of repressed thoughts and hidden motivations that a skilled therapist may uncover. But therapists argue among themselves about them. Only God knows our hearts. People have to judge us by what we do — everything else is unprovable speculation.
If I am pushed out of my job and blackmail my boss, I am a blackmailer.
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Tolkien knew very well that God allowed him to understand the reason for the bloodletting of modernity: Man had fallen away from the Creator.
As a work of aesthetic beauty, of historical and biblical simplicity, and of theological profundity, the film ranks high as a great piece of Christian art.