CAN I BE A KATNISS?

    This week I took my granddaughter to see the latest installment in The Hunger Games movies. Loved it, as I've loved all the movies and the books.
    Some of the scenes in MOCKING JAY were so stirring and I left asking myself, "Why, exactly?" Was it the background music? After all, music has a way of stirring us all and that score was great. But it was more than the music. Was it the dialogue? Katniss was pretty darned stirring when she was throwing down the gauntlet to the bad guy. Well, that contributed.
    But I think what really got me going had more to do with the theme of the movie. How could the viewer not be stirred by watching people unite to bring down an evil force? How could a lowly movie goer not be inspired seeing what a difference one person can make?
    Maybe that hope that one individual can rise up and bring about change, the idea that each of us is important in his or her own way, that we all have a purpose here on Earth, is what makes this whole genre of movie so popular right now. Super heroes abound. Young women save their families in dystopian worlds. Stakes are always high and the odds are usually against the hero but that doesn't stop said hero from entering the fray.
    I think these days everyone is looking for a hero, a cause, a reason to live large. Yet so few of us step out of our safe circle and do it. So few of us sacrifice for others. So few of us are involved with helping good causes. Perhaps we all need to get in touch with our inner Katniss. No, we don't all have to say, "I volunteer as tribute," and step into the arena, but I think, for each of us, there is a cause waiting, something noble to which we can give time and energy. For some of us right now that might be family. For others, civic duty may call, or church or a worthwhile organization like Habitat for Humanity. There is something each one of us can do, something for which we can say, "I volunteer." And perhaps we should also be teaching our children to make that part of their vocabulary as well.
    We're not all called to be super heroes. (Thank Heaven! I could never fit in Katniss Everdeen's cool outfit. And the last time I tried to shoot an arrow I twanged my arm and got an owie.) But we can all fulfill the purpose to which we're called. We can all make a difference.