Lessons from San Andreas

 

 

I just saw San Andreas.

I know I am late to the party, since the film was released mid –last year (2015).How wont I see the movie after one of my  mentor( Him never know yet oh) dropped a scary Facebook post

After seeing the movie that lasted for an approximate 1 hr 54 minutes, the major thought on my mind was:

“A lot is going on in the world that I cannot afford not to build my faith. People need help; I need to be ready to provide a grace-laced succour”

I am not good with all those tectonic plate things… (Geography was never bae, I just read to pass it cos I liked the teacher). But I know they can cause landslides, earthquakes, Tsunamis etc when they shift “somehow”.

The producers were creative enough to weave the plot around the love of family. It brought home the pain and made it easily relatable, especially due to the magnitude of devastation that such a natural disaster can bring.

I will try and talk with bullet points. (If you have seen the movie, you will be able to follow, but if you haven’t, you can just learn the lessons).

 

• VALUE FOR HUMAN LIFE :Dr. Kim Park. He displayed a theme that I have seen play out in a lot of American movies- The value for human life. He could have saved himself, but he just couldn’t see a child suffer hurt, so he helped out and couldn’t make it. He died. It is easy to see someone sacrifice him/Herself for a group in American films, and I believe it’s a subtle message that underline the American society’s as a system that values life.  I believe Nigerians need to take a cue from this.

 

• Dwayne Johnson is someone I have always liked him right from time. I also loved him as D-ROCK, so it was easy for me to fall in love with his character. Ray, that’s his name in the movie. He showed Character, strength and the love of a father. The hurt of losing his daughter, when he is in a life-business of saving lives, affected his marriage…but the experience can be painful sha. I think people in relationship should talk more. He showed the bond of a father and daughter (I so loved this, she was thinking his thought and he was thinking her thought… kai, see connection). Thank God he dint lose Blake(His second Daughter), the way he lost his first. Drowning.

 

• BLAKE: She X-rayed the need to learn survival skills. Watch movies, read books, see documentaries…. Read articles. The bottom line is for you to learn something that gives you an extra edge. And see the way she treated Ben! She was courteous in approach, spoke kindly and related fine with him and his wonderful – smart brother ( Orlie). The lesson here is that we should try to respect people, irrespective of the positions we find ourselves, we may turn out to need their help later. And again, I like the way those white kids are trained jare… I wonder why people from this part always complain that they are not properly trained, yet they turn out to be exciting billionaires at young ages, motivational speakers – see Kingnah (you need to check out this young boy on Instagram, he will blow your mind). Fear has never been a proper way to nurture, check out the grace / law workings in the life of a Christian. There is something, they are doing right in terms of raising very inquisitive and smart children and I think we need to learn. Meanwhile, we also have smart young chaps here oh despite our system of training, wonder how it will be if we can tweak it a little beat more to allow them live and express without fear. Blake was resilient, focused, intelligent and had a wonderful connection with her father.

 

• THE SEISMOLOGY CENTRE: We can never over emphasise this, no nation can develop beyond the quality of its educational system. If the citizens are not properly trained, who will be the foot soldiers to ensure proper growth? Nobody can take responsibility for a nation’s growth rather than the citizens, but are they trained to do so? What is the quality of our learning environment?

As a country, do we have people thinking and exploring indigenous ways of solving our problems as a nation? Where are the think tanks? Thank God we don’t have such natural disasters in this area (God know why sha).

But as government no gree do their work, please still try and learn. The world has a way of celebrating ingenious ways of solving problems.

 

Yes.

Lastly, did you notice the subtle emphasis on prayer? “This will be over soon here, but pray for the people of san Fransico”-.  Where science knows there is a limit, they look up to the supernatural to make a difference. My own supernatural experience is embedded in Christ. So as I saw the movie, I was burdened to continue to grow to the extent where I can be a life saver like Ray, but with prayers of faith as my weapon.

For the Christians, bearers of the gospel of truth, the world is hurt. More than ever before, they need the lights and salts.

After seeing the devastation caused by the Earthquake and Tsunami, this conversation played out:

Emma: This is incredible. So…what now?

Ray: Now we rebuild!

 

Irrespective of what hits us as persons, people,  nation…..we should always be ready to rebuild.