Movie ‘The Giver’ - What does it show about ME?

 

Where shall I start? At the beginning. The reason behind the memory wipe the community decided on was because they saw that Humans were destructive. The only way to ensure survival was to take away the things that caused humans to be destructive: Emotions and free will and making everything the same.

That is part of the big problem we humans face and those 2 things play a major role in why the world is so screwed up currently. Free will and emotions actually work together – The things we do and decide upon are largely based on emotions. We follow what we feel and are directed by our emotions, so in the movie they take daily medications to suppress emotions.

Now, the concept behind the new way of life the people in the movie are living is actually quite cool, BUT it’s all based on the assumption that the only way for humans to live together in peace is to block all emotions, take away everything that represent diversity and live in “Sameness”. Essentially removing anything that could possibly trigger all the bad stuff humans are made of.

The thing is that it’s not our emotions or freewill or diversity that makes us do all the bad stuff we do like fighting, greed, spite and jealousy. Sure, removing that stuff like they did in the movie might stop it for a while, but the problem is that it’s only suppressed. It’s still existent inside the people in the movie, it’s just suppressed.

The key here is to realize exactly what the problem is: You and I. Each of us has accepted greed and anger and all those things as part of who we are – we accepted this to be “Human Nature”. We are allowing ourselves to be directed by our emotions and that determines our whole existence. And that is the real problem. We do not really have freewill when our decisions are based on our emotions. The problem is also the solution.

By understanding and seeing that we do not have to accept this as part of our nature – or more that we as humans have the capacity and power to change our accepted nature. We can remove the triggers within ourselves – all the things that makes us not able to live on this planet in peace. We can End Wars, End Poverty, End Famine, End Abuse – We have that power within us. The power to Change.