The Hero. The Villain. The Girl. : Why Am I Here?

The Hero. The Villain. The Girl. 2

Why Am I Here? (The Villain)

By Daniel Carandang

Usual superhero movies have three characters that we should never forget. Number one would be the hero, of course. He's the one who always saves the day, possessing powers that we one day dream of having. Let's not forget the damsel in distress that he'll be saving in the middle of the film. She has to be really pretty and in real need to suit our hero.

And lastly, though we hate them to the core but we have to accept the fact that we can't live without them, the villain. Villains are the ones who are always after the heroes necks, adding conflict and spice to the tale.

In the 2013 film Man of Steel, General Zod fulfills the spicy villain role.

A little background on our villain: General Zod is the military commander of the Krypton race, which was experiencing imminent destruction due to an unstable core. He found himself in a heated argument with Jor-El who wanted his race to break free from the norm, to experience freedom, which Zod strongly refused to agree to. Jor-El and his wife Lara send their son Kal-El to the planet Earth after infusing his cells with a genetic codex of the entire Kryptonian race. Because of that, Jor-El was killed by Zod. Shortly after that, he was captured yet was able to escape when Krypton exploded.

Afterwards, he made it his mission to find Kal-El in the planet and finish him once and for all.

Killing Kal-El (Clark Kent) seemed to be Zod's greatest purpose. He was so fixated with this mission that he didn't care that he was destroying a number of lives just to achieve his goal. In his head, he believed that he was doing the right thing, empowering him to hunt down the boy who deviated from the norm.

Many people can be like General Zod most of the time.

We think we're living for the right purpose when in fact we are clearly deceived. 

Ever asked yourself this question?

WHY AM I HERE?

What are you here for?

In order to uncover that, we should first take a look at Ecclesiastes 1:1-18.

Ecclesiastes can be linked to the word teacher or someone teaching to a group. The book was written by Solomon, the wisest known person in the Bible. 

The second verse of the chapter actually goes like this:

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher

"Utterly meaningless!

Everything is meaningless!"

If you read the whole chapter, the word MEANINGLESS is used more than once or twice. Riches, relationships, wisdom- all were dubbed as MEANINGLESS. It's ironic because the writer of this book had all of those listed above yet he considers all of them as meaningless. In Solomon's point-of-view, living for such things is pointless...despite the fact that he had it all, he knew that if he based his life on such things, he would go nowhere.

When we see a gravestone, we usually spot the date of birth and death engraved on it.

1908 - 1989

The dash in the middle represents the life that we lived. It also reflects how SHORT life can be. Which is why we want to make the most of our lives because we know that we can die any day. 

Here are some views on why we should live:

1. Moral Excellence

Everyone wants to be good one way or another. The call for good change has been widespread nowadays. There are plenty of demonstrations or events for cleaner environment, movements to end poverty, promote women's rights, etc.

There's noting wrong with living for such. In fact, they're great help to the society. It only becomes a hindrance when we base our existence on the want to do good in order to be recognized and praised by the majority. We do good so that we are remembered by present and future generations. 

But what if we don't earn the respect we expect or are remembered forever? After all, verse 11 says:

No one even remembers the former generations,

and even those yet to come

will not be remembered

by those who followed them

NO ONE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU. If this happens and your life depended on it, you will burn our. You'll get wearisome and ask yourself: "Why am I still doing this?" 

2. Happiness and pleasure

You exist just to have fun. The concept of YOLO (You Only Live Once) is your mantra. Since you only have one life and one shot at it, might as well make the best of it by partying while you can. Get drunk and high all night for tomorrow, you die.

But friends, the fun provided by such is fleeting. Yes, you are young and you have every right to enjoy but enjoying in such a way isn't exactly the best idea ever.

Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say
"I find no pleasure in them-"

Ecclesiastes 12:1

Remember the One who made you. You'll eventually grow tired of partying then you'll live out the consequences of your mistake in your latter years and ask yourself: "Why did I waste my time on that?" 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

John 1:1-3

In the verse, the latin word LOGOS is apparent in the form of the Word. Logos is a term that means REASON. 

What should be our reason for living?

Parties?

Relationships?

The best answer would be: JESUS.

If we truly understand why Jesus died for us and genuinely accepted Him, we would realize that He is the reason for living. His ways are our ways. We would do what we can to please Him. Jesus died so that you may have life in this world and He would want you to live your life wisely and according to His purpose.

When we don't understand the LOGOS, we complain. Why do we have to undergo so many testings and all that? Eventually, we'd give up and resort to making weird reasons for our own. 

Remember your creator in the days of your youth...

Remember the One who made you and you shall be reminded of why you're here.

We are created by God and FOR God. We should live our life according to what He wants through His Word. This would be impossible if you don't know the LOGOS. For you to find out your purpose in life, KNOW THE LOGOS!

Evaluate yourself. Why do you live? Are you like Zod who thinks what he's doing is right but is actually wrong because he has a wrong reason for living? Or are you seeking the LOGOS to find out? Or have you been assured that Jesus is the reason why we live?

Know the logos. Know your purpose.

Written by: Ashley Petallano (c) 2013