Use the Fourth, Luke

It is perhaps fitting that the Catonsville Patch launches on May 4, otherwise known as "Star Wars Day" in the geek community of which I count myself a proud member.  It's based off of the silly pun "May the Fourth Be With You" so it also addresses my particularly nerdy sense of humor.  

As we geeks say, it's an epic win. So why is it appropriate that the Patch's blog launches today?  Well, the purpose of a blog (short for weblog, for those new to this) as I understand it is to share something of yourself with a larger community.  At different times we might find ourselves sharing values, insights, humor, drama, grief, outrage...you name it. For me, that's what George Lucas did through the space opera we call "Star Wars." 

In this one long storyline that eventually spanned six movies and nearly three decades, he laid out a tale that connects the viewer to the characters in ways that at the time, most did not suspect possible in a setting like "a galaxy far, far away".  

Science Fiction had been established years earlier as a literary genre thanks largely in part to authors like Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, but aside from the 3 year run of Star Trek and some Lost in Space episodes, it hadn't yet reached many people on the big screen.  Lucas changed all that.

A lot of important lessons were learned in the three original movies I grew up watching.  Important things like "When rescuing a princess, have an escape plan," "If you're an adoptee (and I am) be careful of who you kiss - she might turn out to be your sister," "Don't ridicule the religion of someone who can choke you from across the room," and "If someone can shoot lightning from their fingertips, they get to be the boss of everyone else".

A lot of other lessons were reinforced (SPOILER ALERT - for the two or three people alive in the U.S. who haven't seen the movies, read no further).  Watching the lightsaber fights and dialogue between Darth Vader and Luke and seeing how Luke never gave upon dear old dad's redemption reinforced the lessons that a person's soul is the most important part of them and that you never give up on those you love.  

Seeing Han and Chewbacca return to help out in the Death Star attack instead of paying off the bounty on their heads reinforced that some things are more important than money or your own safety.  Watching Vader eventually turn on the Emperor and throw him down a shaft at the cost of his own life reinforced that it's never, ever too late.  Not even for someone who had done some really awful things. I hope I learn from the thoughts and comments of my fellow bloggers here on the Patch, and I hope to have plenty of good life lessons reinforced as I share in your lives and you in mine. May the Fourth Be With You...at least until Cinco de Mayo