Potent Passion

Arrow Season 1 Episode 10

Passion is like a wild fire. I always admired people who died/fought for a cause. When I was a kid, watching a movie in which a character died/fought for people they loved or a cause they championed always stirred up something in me to find something/someone to fight and maybe die for. So watching Arrow should have inspired me.

Arrow is a television show about Oliver Queen, the vigilante/hero of Starling City and

the son of the CEO of a billion dollar company. He did not grow up as a martial arts master fighting off anyone who tried to hurt him or those around him. Only through his father’s death and 5 years on a deserted island did Oliver Queen learn the skills to protect a city. This episode of Arrow focused on fear. Having lived on a deserted island for 5 years with nothing to lose and nothing to hope for, Oliver learned to master his fear of death. However, once he returned home to his family, the fear that he mastered slowly slipped out of his reign and took a hold of him. Oliver was afraid of losing his family and friends and he was afraid of what they would go through if they lost him a second time. But Diggles, his sidekick took Oliver’s love for his family and friends and turned it into an unstoppable weapon. Diggles says, “You think the people you let in have taken your edge, I think it gives you one, maybe a stronger one even. You can stare down death with something to live for or not.” In the end, Oliver Queen’s love for his family and friends help him defeat the bad guy (a firefighter) who ended up burning to death, hence the title of the episode, “Burned.” This episode of Arrow does an excellent job encouraging people to be passionate for their loved ones and for justice. It is evident the creators of this television show believe human beings were created for a purpose – to care for and protect those we love and stand up for justice. Though in the show the main character does seem to go a bit too far by killing all the people who do wrong to the city, the message is clear that we should all stand up against injustice and crime.

Unfortunately, passion is like a wild fire. I am afraid for passionate people. I am afraid for people who are passionate for the wrong thing. I thought I would be inspired once again to pursue my desires with zeal, but this time I learned there is a dark side to passion. Oliver Queen doesn’t kill the bad guy in this episode, rather the bad guy commits suicide. Once Oliver points an arrow at his chest and asks him to get help, the bad guy decides to kill himself because he knows he won’t be able to live so long as the man he is trying to get revenge on is still alive. Though this firefighter knew how to extinguish a building on fire, he couldn’t extinguish his passion for revenge.

       So then how do you try and save those who are so passionate about the wrong thing? For example Muslims? Terrorists?

      Is your passion for Christ inextinguishable? Is your passion for Christ catching on others?