Secretariat

While I run the risk of sounding like some sort of movie critic or aficionado, let me start by saying I usually am not a big movie person. Seeing one new movie at the theater is one thing...but two or more in the same year is just an anomaly...for me anyway. Yet, I had the opportunity to attend a screening of Disney's latest movie, Secretariat.

Now, I was not quite 8 years old when Secretariat achieved the pinnacle of horse racing, the Triple Crown (and no, I'm not giving anything away...this is actually history from back in the early 70s). Watching the movie, though, I realized there was quite a bit to the story that I never realized. For example, I did not know that a housewife was the force behind the winning horse...nor did I know what that cost her.

After the screening, which I enjoyed with my sister and brother-in-law, we got into something of a debate. Mainly, my brother-in-law was somewhat disgruntled by the "wimpiness" of the male characters -- namely the husband and the brother. Again, I don't want to give anything away, but I will say that the story really goes beyond the less than stellar behavior of these particular gentleman. It really doesn't even matter that it was a woman -- a woman of the late 60s, early 70s no less -- that made the movie so intriguing. It was her spirit...her sense of character and purpose that I believe any person can aspire to, male or female, that spoke most clearly to me.

I recently read a blog that pointed out the difference between doing things right and doing the right things. In this movie, the lead character did the right things...even when they didn't exactly fit the expectations of her time. I can identify with those who worry and stress over doing things right. Lord know, I have wanted to do things right in my own life. But there comes a time, at least in my experience, when we have to choose between doing things right (ie. meeting the expectations) and doing the right things.

Over time, we can look back and point to places where we either did things right or did the right things. Usually, again in my own experience, the times when I did the right things were also those times when others were likely to let me know that I was not doing things right. It is not an easy or comfortable place to be.

Yes, I identify with the loneliness of the main character in movie...and I admire the hell out of her. There is a significant price to pay for doing the right things. And this really shouldn't surprise us at all. Didn't Jesus tell us that we would have to carry our own cross? Weren't we warned that we would have to lose our lives in order to save it? It occurs to me that we (myself primarily included) have a rather twisted view of what our lives are supposed to be like...and yet, deep down, we know that life is not about having things come easy or simply, not about having everything work out to our satisfaction, not about ensuring that we have earned respect and admiration from our so-called peers. Life, in all its messiness and brokenness, is about trusting and loving. Trusting in our God who does a much better job guiding us through life than we can ever imagine to do on our own, and loving God, ourselves, and one another enough to let go of our illusion of control.

The race is what's before us...not where we've already been. And the winner knows that losing at what is expected means winning for the sake of others.