Christian Thoughts #003: on "Bowser"

Rawr!

   HOLD the phone.

   I know what you're thinking. This guy's an alpha nerd. Well... you're probably right. My nerd-dom is a fact. Now hopefully what you aren't thinking is: "well, if he's such a nerd, I'm out."

   Hang on. Hang on. Nerd-dom is not what I'm here to talk about.

   I think any subject can be a launching pad into discussions that are relevant, practical and spiritual. Believe it or not, I'm about to do that with Bowser (hopefully).

      First appearing in Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, Bowser, the King of the Koopas, was a fire-breathing behemoth, a hammer-chucking monstosity, a princess-nabbing villain doomed to plummet several times into a boiling pit of lava (over which he had precariously positioned himself, for some reason). His defeat came at the hands of none other than the classic hero himself, Mario. Or Luigi, if you had a younger brother or sister playing along.

   To me, the most interesting thing about Bowser is not the fact that he's a giant turtle with magical powers, although that is admittedly quite interesting. No, the real catcher is that he climbed out of that lava and tried again. And so you found him standing in that same spot, on an easily collapsable bridge, trying to foil his nemesis with a few balls of flame before he tumbles terrifically into effervescent magma. If you remember right, he did this eight times before the game was over.

Ker-sploosh!

   A lesser creature would've stayed in that lava. What could be the benefit of climbing out again? I mean obviously Bowser is a horrible failure at life. No amount of wealth or accumulation of land or power, nor even the affection of Princess Toadstool could be worth the beating he sustained and then rose up to sustain some more.

   And yet he did rise up. Again. Again. And again.

   In his subsequent appearances, Bowser has been dropped into holes, exploded, pulverized, run off the road, super smashed and crushed by the weight of his entire castle. He has suffered losses, set-backs, defeats and the like. The Mario Bros. succeed in ruining him repeatedly. So what keeps him coming back for more?

   Well, for one, he's a fictional character, Moses.

   Look, I know that, you mook.

   What keeps this fictional character going is a very non-fictional attribute: determination. Determination is that which says "I know it's hard. I know I fail. I know I've fallen into this stupid lava pit again and again. But I'm going to keep trying." If there's any fictional character that has embodied the will to never give up, it's the Koopa King. But if there's any non-fictional character that has repeatedly given up, it's the writer of this blog.

   I will admit that I lack determination. If I have to do something difficult (God forbid fight off an angry plumber over a pit of magma), my immediate reactions are complaining, griping, moaning, attempting and all around trying to figure out a way out.

   There's an old forgotten hymn that goes:

I am resolved no longer to linger,
Charmed by the world’s delight,
Things that are higher, things that are nobler,
These have allured my sight.

I am resolved to go to the Savior,
Leaving my sin and strife;
He is the true One, He is the just One,
He hath the words of life.

I am resolved to follow the Savior,
Faithful and true each day;
Heed what He sayeth, do what He willeth,
He is the living Way.

I am resolved to enter the kingdom
Leaving the paths of sin;
Friends may oppose me, foes may beset me,
Still will I enter in.

Refrain:

I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free;
Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.
I will hasten, hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free;
Jesus, Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.

   Where has resolution gone off to? Where is Christian determination? Where is the strength to promise within myself that I will go where He calls, say what He wants and do as He commands despite the fact that I will often fail?

   "Well, what about resolution? What about determination?" someone will say. After all, the apostle who saw the living Christ, who walked and talked with the Lamb of God, said to Him face to face that he would never deny Him, and yet he certainly did, and that three times! So what about determination?

   Well why is it then that the prophet in Babylon is praised for refusing the king's delicacies because he had purposed in his heart? Why is it then that the patient sufferer of old is applauded for making a covenant with his eyes? Why is the builder of the ark looked at in awe for his perseverance through 100 years of construction whilst his neighbors jibbed him at every word? Why is the runner of the race lauded for his self-discipline and his resolve to finish his race? Why does the blue ribbon go to the men who determined and succeeded? Because they succeeded.

   To the failure goes the old line: "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." It is almost expected to fail. I mean, after all, I'm human aren't I? I'm inclined to failure. And even if you don't believe in any of this Christianity stuff, you must know that even you aren't perfect all of the time, and that you surely don't always perfectly perform?

   There must be some kind of a balance here. I daren't say that I will never fail, and yet expecting failure, I don't even want to try. And yet to fail to give myself the chance to fail, or to succeed, is the greatest failure foremost. There are things in this life worth a little perseverance: character, happiness, dreams, eternal life, enduring relationships.

   Let them tell me "the princess is in another castle"! God, give me strength to go on to the next castle. God, give me perseverance to try for the things that are worth it. God, give me resolve through my failures. The frightening thing to me is that I'll hit the Publish button and immediately go back to the guy I've always been... Dare I say that I'm determined not to?

   "How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them."

 --Benjamin Franklin




     Be one of the Few.

       ~norton