Seize This Chance
by Steve Watters on 03/28/2008 at 12:06 PM
Recently, Candice and I introduced our kids to the classic movie Chariots of Fire. There's a lot we love about this movie, but we had forgotten the power of the address by the Master of Caius near the beginning of the movie. His message to the incoming freshmen of Caius college at Cambridge University opens with his reflection on the tragic loss of scores of Cambridge grads in the Great War and concludes with a charge to the students now taking their seats:
And now by tragic necessity their dreams have become yours.
Let me exhort you: examine yourselves.
Let each of you discover where your true chance of greatness lies.
For their sakes, for the sake of your College and your country, seize this chance, rejoice in it, and let no power or persuasion deter you in your task.
(You can hear the rest of the message here)
The news this week that 4,000 service men and women have died fighting in Iraq has been treated as a political football by some, but I wonder if there's any common ground between both the war's supporters and opponents to appreciate the high quality of the men and women who have died in this battle. More than that, I wonder how many of the people who were peers of those who died might feel the "tragic necessity" of fulfilling the hope and potential that remains in this generation that has lost some of its finest.
1. Janice said the following at 1:56 PM on Mar 28:
I am one who feels the "tragic necessity" of which you write because I personally know men who have fought in (and are forever changed because of) Iraq and Afghanistan. I also think of myself as compelled to live determined, be persuaded, and to live "worth of my calling." I am a survivor of a generation marked by Roe vs. Wade. My generation and peers are now owning companies, performing surgeries, developing cutting edge medications, impacting the world's economies, planting churches and more. How much more would we have accomplished had 40 million people not been lost to the ultimate terroristic act? I wonder.
Thanks for the post and for such a great tie in from an awesome movie.
2. Jacob M. said the following at 8:48 PM on Mar 28:
Well, one area of common ground between both the war's opponents and, it seems, the vast majority of its supporters, is the implicit assumption that it is normal for women to serve in the military to an extent that they can be killed in combat, and that there is nothing remarkable about this, such that even "conservatives" utter phrases like "service men and women" and "our sons and daughters" without batting an eye. Whereas a person who believes in traditional gender roles should be quite unhappy that we believe in sexual equality to the point of being willing to send women to their death.
3. Esther said the following at 7:06 PM on Mar 30:
I have always loved Chariots of Fire, especially since I'm a runner. The line, "I can feel his [God's] pleasure when I run" is something I connect with- there's nothing like a straight road ahead, and my wonderfully created joints and muscles working smoothly together.
As for those who fight- my brother spent a year in Iraq and saw friends and comrades killed. He did his duty, and would do so again if required. But he has expressed that he often feels that he fought to defend the rights and freedoms of people who don't know and don't appreciate the cost or the value of what they have.
4. TINA said the following at 2:02 PM on Feb 3:
This is a powerful article..It speaks volume to one's heart...what i find to be very interesting is the example of how God takes a secular movie into the heart of a writer,and makes a powerful statement...Love it!!!He uses all things..reminds me of how God used C.S.Lewis and the point behind Chronicles of Narnia.....