Using Pain to Create a Hero: Guardians of the Galaxy in Review

Marvel keeps bringing us amazing films, and Guardians of the Galaxy is no exception. If you haven’t seen any it yet, it is about a band of misfits who come together for the good of the galaxy. Hints the name: Guardians of the Galaxy.

As the plot develops, it is revealed that each character has experienced hardship during the course of their lives. The lose of loved ones, experimentation, torture and even abduction from their home planet. Not all of our own personal stories reflect these fictionalized events, but there are elements of the story we can all relate to. We all experience pain during the course of our own lives. We each have a backstory that has molded us into the people we are today. There are grains of truth in these characters that reflect the grief we have felt and experienced during our lifetime.

I found it interesting that the characters are filled with so much anger, yet are able to find strength within themselves to rise above their situations and help save the galaxy. No one would have blamed them for giving up. Everything in their lives had be set against them from the moment of their conception. However, they did not let their circumstances effect their actions. They chose to do what was right. To be the hero.

I believe we can apply this lesson to our own lives. The pain and hurt from the past does not have to dictate the outcome of our future. The past is just that. The past. What is set before us is still to be written. A blank slate. We are the ones in control of our lives and we decide the direction in which our life will proceed. We may not save the galaxy, but we certainly have been given the ability to save ourselves.