A few weeks ago I went to Disneyland with my family and enjoyed the sights, sounds, and thrills as anyone does.
I’ve been to Galaxy’s Edge in Orlando a couple times, this was the first time I made an appointment to build my own lightsaber. Plenty of other videos and blogs about that, I won’t bother with the details. I looked at the selection of parts available and opted for the more ornate style of a jedi from the ‘high republic’ era.
I carried the saber around for a short time. I looked in the Disneyland app and saw when characters were scheduled to be walking around the area. Rey was going to be near the Millenium Falcon soon. Perfect chance for a photo!
The actress playing Rey was pitch perfect. I mean she really looked the part and had the voice. I know they’re supposed to stay in character, so I did my best to match. I told her I had recently aquired the saber and it appeared to be a relic from a previous era, despite its pristine condition. I told her that I was inspired to fight against injustice and would need help and training. “There are more of us than there are of them” I said, recalling the words of Lando Calrissian in Rise of Skywalker.<br><br>And thats when I caught myself. I didn’t need Star Wars to be real, but it needed the ideals to be real. Every day I see the news and talk to friends and every day the acts of the those in power seem closer to the fiction of the evil Empire. It is easy to dismiss, the cartoonish evil in movies. Then it happens to us. Rights restricted, troops partrolling cities, propaganda spreading. And even worse is the misplaced faith of millions, who equate tyranny with safety or peace.
I don’t need the Rebel Alliance to be real. But I need that hope to be. I need the people to join together and say enough. There are more of us than there are of them. If we could follow a Rey or Luke or Han or Asohka or whatever into a battle to stop it once and for all.
Star Wars is easily seen as fiction not because of villains simple quest for power and dominance, but because the heroes win with decisive victories. Escape. Fight Back. Blow up the Death Star. We don’t have it so easy here.
I am one with the Force and the Force is with me.
We are who they grow beyond.
This is the way.