Help! My Heart is Full of Pony! - Be the Change · 8:40am Jul 31st, 2016
Image Source: MLP: FIM: Hurricane Fluttershy
I saw a comic that depicted a man looking in one direction that was painted red with words like "horror," "war," "hatred" spattered everywhere. In the other direction, was a TARDIS full of welcoming fictional characters from a wide variety of TV shows. The man in the comic ultimately chose to walk away from the horror and join the fictional characters. The caption read "why I and so many other people turn to pop culture fandom."
I'm not posting the comic here because I feel it would be rude to do so without asking, especially since my intent is to refute the comic's message, with all due to respect to the artist.
I feel like it was missing the point. Fantasy should not be a mere escape from reality, but a means to confront it.
No matter what your fandom, you should take what makes you happy about your favorite stories – take what gives you joy – and use it as a source of strength. The point of mythology is to inspire. It shows us the way. It whittles the moral quandaries of the world to a manageable size. It is there, in that place of both clarity and mystery, that we find ourselves.
If the magic of friendship is what inspires you, then live it. Be your own hero. Practice random acts of kindness. Face your dragons. Get involved in your community, or activist organization. Become someone else's inspiration. "Every little bit counts," is one of the most popular themes of the show, and with the discovery of the Cutie Map, MLP:FIM has now dedicated two whole seasons to the importance of getting out there, getting involved, and spreading that friendship around.
We cannot simply hide in the bubbles of our fiction. It is through us, and our actions that those stories become real. It is when we take that magic that we feel, and turn around, and use it to face the horrors, and injustice of the world - when we dare to try to make a difference, even by contributing a meager bit of wing power to the hurricane - that the magic we feel is made manifest in the here, and in the now.
If you don't fight for the change you want to see in the world, no one is going to do it for you. So fight, even if your victories are microscopic - even if you don't win. To do otherwise is to give up on life itself. To turn your back on the world is to become complicit in its cruelties. Take the magic that inspires you, (regardless of what mythos it comes from), and live it. As Gandhi said, "be the change that you want to see in the world."
-Sprocket
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Thank you for writing this, Sprocket. This is the thing that all of us, regardless of our interests, should do. I know, for myself anyway, that it is easier and safer sometimes to turn away from life's problems and lock them behind the door of apathy and disenchantment. The problem with that is that they problems don't go away; they don't wither and die from inattention, they grow stronger and more prevalent. As Edward Blake (I think) said, the best way to let evil spread is for good people to do nothing abut it. I sort of paraphrased that quote but I hope I kept the intent. I'm as guilty of this as anyone. One of us might not change the world but a bunch of us together can. I'll try to be courageous enough to do my part. Thank you for the reminder. Have a great day