There is a scene in the film version of Red Badge of Courage—the one starring Audie Murphy—in which the actor Andy Devine plays a character called “The Cheery Soldier.” It is an odd scene. During a frantic battle, the protagonist (Murphy) runs away. He joins a sad caravan of defeated and dying men. That night, lost and bewildered, he encounters the Devine character who exudes joy and hope, leading the young man back to his unit. Next day, he performs bravely and becomes a hero.
The allegorical example of heroism born of positivity and
duty is so inimical to the standard thirst for revenge and power that it makes
one tremble.
This echoes the New Testament account of Paul and Simon “locked in jail” as accounted in Acts 16-25-26:
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the
other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent
earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the
prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.”
Perhaps we could all learn from these examples, those of us who
believe that the forces of darkness have descended upon America. They have won.
There is no doubt. The depravity of their actions has served to prove that
there is no limit to what their followers will tolerate. Now they are "rubbing it in." What can we, the
losers, do?
Maybe quit trying logic and anger and become the “cheerful
losers.” Perhaps a display of what we consider righteousness, displaying how
that makes us cheery instead of argumentative might work to make the prison doors
fly open.
Who knows? It might, in some redeemable soul, cause a moment
of “winner’s remorse.” If we are cheery with loss, might they develop some sense
of over-optimism about the value of what they have won?
After all, they are so fond of the scriptures. Isn’t it
written “ For what shall it profit a man, if he shall
gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
It is indeed, in Mark 8:36
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