Tabula Rasa

Recently I watched again “The Dark Knight” (I have a habit of rewatching good films). And those feelings came again: I got thrilled, and the beauty of the story and its themes captured me again. What if you wanted to do what’s righteous, what’s honorable, what’s just, and the conditions simply forced you to do the opposite? What if those conditions make you slowly turning into something you don’t want? What if you believed in something, but that something is not what your colleague, friends, or even family believed? That’s a moral dilemma.

I recall,  John F. Kennedy once said, “The hottest place in hell reserved for those who in time of great crises maintain their neutrality”. He also said “A man does what he must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures — and that is the basis of all human morality”. In accordingly, Winston Churchill — one of the best prime minister Britain had — said a great thing, “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life”.

Now the point is clear. Life, at certain points is not as just and as kind as we were once thought. To do something righteous and honorable is not an easy duty to do. There’s a price for it. Harvey Dent, the newly-appointed DA of Gotham City must risk the life of Rachel Dawes. James Gordon, one of the few uncorrupted cops in Gotham Police Department must risk the life of his family. Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman, must risk his wealth, his status, and even forced to took the blame being chased as vigilante, as Alfred Pennyworth said, “Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They’ll hate you for it, but that’s the point of Batman. He can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make — the right choice.”

And finally, it’s a test of faith, so that we aware of our limit, so that we aware what we are truly are. Because to do righteous things in righteous times is a task that everyone able. To do righteous things in corrupt times is the task only capable for the extraordinary ones. And I believe you are extraordinary in your own right.