[Spoiler Warning]

I’ve seen “The Dark Knight” three times now. And each time I’m amazed at how this movie never loses my interest. And, what’s even more surprising, is that it is two and a half hours long!

I have loved this current retelling of the Batman character. Batman, in my mind, was always meant to be a darker hero. One who wrestles with inner turmoil. One who was born out of horrific pain and suffering. One who is truly and utterly alone. A dark, lonely and tragic hero.

“Batman Begins” really started to explore the Batman character in this fashion. “Dark Knight” excels in its exploration of this darker version of Batman.

Not only is Batman now placed in a darker, grittier reality, but the villains are also more realistic. Joker actually wears make up. He has scars on his face. And we never learn why. He is truly, completely, absolutely, deranged. And it’s incredibly powerful.

Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker was by far the best version of the Joker I have seen yet. He presents a brilliant mind that is completely twisted. He isn’t necessarily evil. As he himself describes, he is “an engine of chaos”. He really truly is chaos in the form of a person. And that is why he is creepy on an entirely different level.

Dichotomy is a deep undercurrent in this movie. The contrast (and similarities) between Batman and Joker are stunning. Both are, in a sense, lonely characters. No one really understand the Joker, and Batman can’t let anyone get too close to him. They are, as Joker would have you believe, two halves that make a whole. And, in a lot of ways, that is true.

But the really powerful comparison comes in between Harvey Dent (Two-Face) and Batman. Harvey is constantly referred to as the “white knight” of Gotham. He embodies the hope for a brighter Gotham. Joker understands this, and seeks to tear down the white knight. Ultimately, Harvey falls from the position of the beloved hero to the horrific Two-Face. His fall was masterfully done in my opinion. It didn’t feel as if they were quickly shifting a shining knight into a fallen hero quickly. The conversion was slow. Piece by piece, Joker undid the white knight.

Batman, however, was the dark knight. He wasn’t the true public hero of Gotham like Harvey Dent. He broke the rules. He, like Harvey, sought the good for Gotham, but he was not restrained by any rules (save his own: not to take a life).

There were several points in the movie that were simply chilling. The part where the two ferries were stopped and the people were given a choice: blow up the other boat, or let Joker blow both of them up. Joker anticipated that at least one boat would pull the trigger. However, after much struggle, neither boat pulled the trigger. But Joker still had one last trick up his sleeve. While he may have been wrong initially, he knew that if they lost their hope (i.e. Harvey Dent), then the city would ultimately plummet into chaos. And he had already done just that: transformed Harvey Dent into Two-Face.

Perhaps the most powerful part at the end was the final discussion between Gordon and Batman. To preserve Gotham’s hope, Batman told Gordon to let the city know that he had killed the people that Harvey Dent had killed. That way Harvey would remain “the hero that Gotham deserves, not the hero it needs”. And Batman could be “the hero that Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now”. Incredibly powerful.

Gordon’s son struggled with this. He said “but he didn’t do anything wrong”. And Gordon responded, “No, but he can take it. And so we’ll hunt him, because he can take it”. And so Batman becomes even more of a dark, lonely and tragic hero. Hunted by the very city that he seeks to save for a crime that he did not commit, but one that he had to take the fall for to save the soul of Gotham.

One final phrase that was burned into my memory. Batman notes that “sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded. Sometimes the truth isn’t good enough”. And I agree. Sometimes the truth simply isn’t good enough.

It doesn’t feel like I was watching a comic book movie. I was watching an exploration into the depth of the human condition. An exploration into the human psyche. An exploration into a dark and lonely hero. An exploration into the mind of a mad man. A journey from a white knight into a fallen hero.

Dark, tragic, lonely, brilliant. This movies earns a 10 / 10 from Cyrus.

This will be brief. But as I read technical articles, inevitably issues about IP (intellectual property) and copyrights come up. While I disagree with the way many companies handle things, fine. I’ll humor you and listen.

But, what really irks me is when people say copyright infringement is the same as stealing. People who don’t really understand what is going on say that. And they give really faulty examples like, “Of course people should be upset when they copy their song. It’d be like if they walked up to you and stole your car”.

No. No, that’s simply wrong. Wrong on so many levels. Look, let’s break this down logically for people who simply cannot see the difference.

Situation 1) Steal the car

Starting condition: You have a car
Action: Car is stolen
End result: You no longer have a car

Situation 2) Copy your music

Starting condition: You have the music (protected by copyright)
Action: Music is copied
End result: You still have the music (but have lost the opportunity for a sale)

Note: I’m not saying it isn’t wrong to copy music. But what I am saying is that if you want to defend your point of view, make sure that you are using accurate examples. Failure to do so makes you look foolish, and drastically diminishes the validity of your argument.

A good friend and I were chatting today, and he told me about one of his coworkers. He said that his coworker was incredibly frustrated with people saying that they want to grow closer to God. And that was it for me. That was putting to words the frustrations that I’ve been having with Christianity (and what I think many people are frustrated with Christianity for).

But let’s unpack that. How can growing closer to God be bad? Well, the answer is, it isn’t. In fact, it’s an incredibly good thing. Very important, perhaps even fundamentally important. But as I began to chat with my friend about this, I realized why it’s frustrating for me. We make growing closer to God our end all - the ultimate place to get. We envision that someone who is so close to God will be exactly what God is looking for. I disagree, but I’ll return to that point in a moment.

Wanting to grow closer to God should (and I would argue must) be a consistent theme throughout our life as we walk in faith. But, it was never meant to be the end goal. It should never be something that we strive solely for. In my mind, seeking to deepen your relationship with God is something that you do early on in your faith. Later it is an integral part of your faith, but it is not what you are striving for.

I think Jesus has a lot to say about this, and I think that I’m keeping in line with His teachings. Think about it. Some people that are casting out demons will come to Him at the end times and He will tell them to go away from Him, for He never knew them. I can’t speak for you, but I know that I’ve never done anything like cast out demons. Another point He accuses the pharisees of being white washed tombs. They were so concerned with the outside that the missed the inside. And lastly, He was deeply concerned with social injustices in the world.

When we focus on being “closer to God”, often times what we’re really saying is we want to spend more time with God, be more holy, and sin less. All of this is good, but it’s only a small part of the picture. We ought to be seeking to advance His Kingdom. Doing His work. Being like Christ. Instead, we seek to go to one more church service, memorize one more passage, buy one more Christian album.

And in all of our efforts to grow closer to God, we somehow miss the heartbeat of God. We fail to see the poor and needy all around us. We isolate ourselves from the world. We cut off those that desperately need us to show them loving arms that carry the healing power of Christ. We fall into tightly knit circles of people that are trying to be “more Christ-like”, without really understanding that Christ would never do such a thing.

We so busy ourselves with being clean and pure that we miss the opportunities to show this world that we aren’t afraid to get a little messy by delving into the filth that is the brokenness in this world. The brokenness that is in others. The brokenness that is in ourselves.

And what does the world see? It sees people trying to be morally superior. It sees people trying to do the checklists of right and wrong. It sees people that the world knows should be reaching out to it, but they can’t see past the sins of the world. So the only effort the world ever sees is a bunch of people pushing away from the sin, misery and brokenness of the world.

So what do you mean when you say you want to grow closer to God? Do you want to be more pure? Do you want to pray more often? Do you want to experience a revival of the Spirit?

Or do you want to go out and touch a world in need? Do you want to hold a bandage up against the bleeding wounds of others to show them the love of Christ?

Do you want to see the face of God through moral superiority that you experience by sinning less? Or do you want to see the face of God by helping the least of these?

Haven’t we become a little one sided in what it means to be a Christian? Have we lost sight of what Jesus was really about?

This past weekend I secured a new vehicle, effectively retiring my iconic little blue truck. This has two distinct benefits: one, I am no longer chained to a vehicle that causes me to hemorrhage money on fuel; two, I can no longer be identified by simply glancing out the window and seeing the little blue truck (but it should be noted that I dearly loved that truck, and I’ll always have fond memories of it).

My new car is a Saturn Aura. I was very pleased by what Saturn had to offer me. The vehicle is certainly more fuel efficient than my truck, it is a very smooth ride, responsive handling. The interior is nice, large amounts of trunk space, and now I can actually (comfortably) carry people.

Overall, I think many people would enjoy the car. It has a fairly classy feeling to it, but not over the top. It’s very practical, but they paid a lot of attention to small details. And often times it is attention to the little things that make something seem very good. At this point, I would give the car (with respect to the class that it is in), about an 8.5 / 10.

Feeling should fade with the passing of time
As the sunlight wanes into the night
The passing years should untangle this mess
That ties up all of my insides
The hurt should get less with each day that passes
Yet it seems to linger as fresh as that day
My own foolishness leaves a bitter taste
Mixing with the sense of loss
Uncertain as to how to begin
To let this all bleed out
The morning sun should have the promise of a new day
But it brings only memories of you
To let this fool heart of mine ache
As I wonder how I could have been so foolish

I had a conversation with one of my very good friends. It’s amazing how the years don’t seem to ease the pain of some things. The passing of time is supposed to heal all wounds, but instead it only seems to leave scars. This poem speaks out of that hurt that should pass with time, but never seems to go.