Lessons learned from Karone (part 2)

Before I dive in, let me rehash what we have learned so far from Karone:

#1: We can’t let our past determine what we do with our future.  I don’t want to write everything that I wrote yesterday again, but in Karone’s case, she was once an evil villain named Astronema.  But largely because of her brother’s love, she returned to the side of good and eventually became the pink Power Ranger.

#2: God wants us to fight on the side of good.  In the animated movie “Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam” Superman counsels Captain Marvel to be good, even though it's not always the easy thing to do.  Let’s move on to some new material now.

#3: We must learn to forgive ourselves.  In an episode from “Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy”, we learn that when Karone was Astronema, she turned a powerful warrior into stone with her magical staff.  In an attempt to make things right (and to help the Power Rangers out of a jam) she tracks the person down.  He is still a stone figure.  In a poignant scene, she says to him, “I don't know if you can hear me, but I did a lot of bad things in my past.  Angry at the whole universe, I suppose.  But you, you were fighting for justice.  I am so sorry I did this to you.  If I could, I would gladly take your place.”  Then as Karone begins to cry on his stone hand, the man returns to normal, presumably because of her tears of remorse.  The now restored man says to Karone, “I forgive you.  Now it's time for you to forgive yourself!”

These words were particularly impacting to me as I watched all this unfold.  I’m far from perfect; I make mistakes like anyone else.  To be candid with you, I’m tempted at times to withhold forgiveness from myself.  But God says to every Christian, “I forgive you.  Now it's time for you to forgive yourself!”  Later on in the episode, Karone says, “For the first time in my life, I feel like the past is behind me.  My future is a clean slate.”  As Christians, we can say the same thing.  God has given us a clean slate as well!

#4: Change is possible.  This one is really exciting!  We are not bound to what we are today.  If there is something in our lives that shouldn't be there, we can change.  I love the TV show called “Monk.”  Tony Shalhoub portrays a brilliant detective named Adrian Monk who has to overcome his extreme case of OCD to solve crimes.  In one episode, Monk’s father returns to his life.  In an interesting exchange, his dad says to Monk, “Nobody ever really changes; you’ve never changed!”  What a sad outlook on life!  If Karone’s story teaches us anything, it teaches us that if there is something in our lives that we don’t like, we can change.

Kevin Bauer