Translation from http://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.12.2?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
Greatness Pt. 2
Anakin Skywalker thought he was the greatest Jedi who ever lived. He thought Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was the greatest politician. These delusions of greatness rendered Anakin, the Chancellor, and the entirety Jedi Orders and Galactic Senate blind to the evils they were part of and surrounded by. Palpatine, in his capacities both as the Sith Lord Sidious and as the elected Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Senate intentionally orchestrated a pan-galactic war in order to garner more and more power. Anakin murdered innocent men, women, and children in a passionate rage. The Jedi became the very evil they sought to protect the galaxy from by becoming a war machine churning out destruction and resentment in the name of peace and security. And the senate willingly empowered a single man they trusted infallibly to not only lead them but to eventually relinquish the power he never would.
They all thought themselves great. And, they all thought they were working towards creating and maintaining something great. What then is the difference between Abram’s quest for greatness, or even the Jedi Order or the Galactic Senate’s quests for greatness, and the obsession with greatness Anakin and Palpatine sought? Why does history revere the former and shun the latter? It begins with their motives.
Acting in ways that we as subjective observers would regard as inexplicably immoral may well have been committed, in the eyes of that actor, out of a sense of preservation not only of self but for love and care for others. A distinction has to be drawn between the actions we deem immoral because we disagree with them and the actions we deem immoral because they are grounded in hatred or are intentionally harmful to others. We also must remember these intentions are not mutually exclusive. Both can exist at the same time, and either one could well exist without the other.
A deeply disturbing but undeniably true fact of life is that our world has been shaped by the byproducts of atrocities. There is absolutely no denying that whether we are talking about the Jewish people, the Jedi Order, or our own United States, there were inexcusable atrocities committed by dehumanization and a willingness to sacrifice the othered in order for the hegemony to gain. We do not have to be okay with this and we do not have to forgive it. In fact, we should not. George Washington owned slaves and passed numerous laws protecting slave owners. Abraham owned slaves and sold his own wife in exchange for some. Still, today, the leaders of our country commit horrible, unforgivable acts. History has redeemed Abraham and our founding fathers because the sum of their lives amounted to an opportunity for us to achieve a greatness that does not excuse their personal demons, but forces us to be grateful for what they have given us. We have no choice but to recognize their actions are what brought us to this day, and we are morally obliged to cringe and the fact that we must in the face of the inhumanity these men acted with. Even when we see Anakin Skywalker’s redemption as he joins Luke in ending the Emperor and the Empire in Return of the Jedi are many of us deeply troubled. We cannot forget the atrocities he committed, but we are again, forced to accept that without his contributions, the galaxy could not have been set on a path where greatness would have been possible. How are we meant to feel when our forefathers are such harrowingly divisive and morally translucent and sometimes even oblique figures?
We now more than ever have the horrifying job of accepting, or at least being aware that the pursuit of safety and security for oneself and loved ones is often fraught with putting down and damaging others, and balance that with the necessity to absolutely condemn in the strongest terms any time one's opinion is laced with anger and expressed in hatred and violence, physical or otherwise. If we cannot accept this reality, after the appropriate emotional distress is accounted for, we will be paralyzed by the anger this reality breeds. If we refuse to engage with those whom we disagree, let alone hate, we will inevitably retreat from the same kind of empathy for others the Jedi retreated from before their demise. We are in this struggle reminded of what it means to return, as there is a terrible cycle where hatred leads to fear by the hated for the hatred, that fear leads to anger, and that anger again to hatred by the hated towards the hater. And from there the cycle begins again. It is as Master Yoda teaches. Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Preventing oneself from falling into this cycle requires humility and distance. It requires first the humility to be aware of our own evil and of our own hatred. “Just doing my job” or “protecting my family” are not excuses we can validate. Then, it is necessary to observe and understand the way we are being made to feel by others. This requires a distancing of those feelings from their source in order to better understand why the source of those feelings is causing you to feel so. In so doing, you may discover that the inexcusable acts of hatred being committed towards you are being committed out of fear. Knowing this about others means we are responsible for breaking the cycle of hatred and not succumbing to it ourselves. If we could somehow manage to empathize with even our enemies, we could prevent the kind of destruction of society the Jedi never could. It is only through difficult and painful dialogue that we can possibly break this cycle of hatred, especially on a larger scale.
When we can somehow find the strength to recognize concurrently the hate-imbued in the actions and rhetoric of others, as well as the deeper reasons for why they are set on the paths they are, we will be able to distinguish who should be regarded as pure evil, and who should be regarded as the un-discardable evil we are cursed to live with; the ones that have set a path before us to achieve the greatness their delusions could never have allowed them to. It is too late for those who have sinned so badly to be great; tarnished forever their names will be. It is not too late for the rest of us to rectify their wrongs and keep moving forward. What makes a great nation? What makes a great name? Greatness comes from righting the wrongs that have been made, protecting those who were wronged from ever being harmed again, and preventing others from being harmed in the future. While evil actions may not always be born of evil intentions, no amount of evil for any reason can be stood for. It takes both introspection and awareness to recognize evil. It requires far less to take actions against it once observed.
A final point. One of the concluding scenes of Episode III is Padmé's funeral. During the procession of the open casket, there is a quick shot of a young girl.
Padmé's funeral symbolizes the ultimate loss of innocence and peaceful order in the galaxy. This young girl bears no expression of hopelessness. She gives no apparent regard for the gravity of the event in which she is in attendance. At that is the very point. With the collapse of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, an entirely new generation will be made to grow up having never known the better life that came before. This impressionable young girl, who has known only war her entire life thus far, is the one with whom the galaxy's destiny will stand. She knows nothing of Jedi nor Sith, cares not for finding balance in the Force. Her only prerogative is to survive. She lives on Naboo, the home planet of Emperor Palpatine and will be raised into a comfortable life, shielded, whether she knows it or not, from so much of the suffering that surrounds her. Will she grow up to value the greatness of defending herself and her own in submission to the Empire's will and ways? Or, will she grow up to join the Rebellion, implicitly or explicitly, divining greatness from the defense of the defenseless throughout the galaxy. Whichever she chooses will be a product of her life's circumstances. No blame could be placed on her whichever path she chooses. All the galaxy can do is try to raise her with values of justice and love and hope she picks the path towards true greatness.
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