So What?

I guess that i just don't get it sometimes. It amazes me how important it is to people, how important it is to me at times, to win. As time has gone by i'm starting to recognize more and more how driven we are, not only to do well and succeed, but to be number 1. Not that being number one is necessarily bad, but too often being number one comes at the cost of everything / everyone else.

I like to watch movies sometimes. They can be very entertaining. Every movie has a lesson. Every movie has a purpose. Every movie attempts to teach you something. At least every good movie does. Time and time again what i see in movies is the attempt to succeed. It is the attempt to overcome. It is the attempt to defeat everyone else and come out on top against all odds. It's about showing / proving to someone or something that you are better than them. There have been a couple of movies that i have seen lately that have had this common pattern, this common theme, and when i see them i walk away wondering, "So what?"

So the main character won, so what! He beat his opponent. He beat him soundly, so what! All he succeeded in doing is proving that he could win. The character won the battle, but in the end he lost the war. He overcame all of the obstacles. He defeated all the challenges. He succeeded! He won! So what? I saw a movie recently, i don't remember what it was, but i do remember walking away thinking. He won, who cares. I think that the statement would have been stronger and the movie better if he had in showing that he could win, instead of destroying and humiliating his opponent, rather let go and let his opponent win. I think it would have turned the movie from a mediocre one to a blockbuster. Instead, it was all about winning at the cost of everyone / everything else. Maybe the opponent deserved it? So what? Is the success worth the price? It's funny what people are capable of, what i am capable of, when it's all about Me, the big "I".

Image from Robby Garbett used under cc license.