Saved (from myself)

I recently watched what I thought was a howlingly funny movie, called "Saved!" This is how Netflix described it:

When Mary (Jena Malone), a devout senior at a Christian high school, accidentally gets pregnant, she starts to see her peers and her faith in a whole new way. This dark comedy/coming-of-age story premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and was produced by R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe. Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Patrick Fugit, Martin Donovan and Mary-Louise Parker co-star.

The themes pertain to all religions; I was reminded of several incidents during my very brief association with a Jewish religious youth group. There were often competitions to out-holy each other, which is kind of the antithesis of religion (or should be).

One of the messages is that the holier you profess to be, the further you'll fall when your humanity finally breaks through. There's a scene where one girl, in frustration, hurls her bible at Mary and bonks her with it. Mary picks up the bible and says, "This is not a weapon!" I was thinking about that scene this morning. Someone said something stupid and hurtful to me yesterday, and my first impulse was to just climb in the front seat of the blogmobile and run him down. But this is not a weapon -- or at least, it shouldn't be.*

Well, lookit me, wearing big girl underpants and learning to use my power for good and not for evil.
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*I will continue to make exceptions for heartless, thoughtless members of the medical community. I still haven't mentioned anyone by name, and I probably never will, but they are fair game for blog fodder.