The Karate Kid...

You Are Here: Home - City of Carlisle , Jackie Chan , Jaden Smith , Karate Kid , Martial arts , Social Life , Will Smith - The Karate Kid...

The Karate Kid...

Posted by Dominic Gross on 3:22 PM // 7 comments

Image by MAWSpitau via Flickr

Contributed by Joe Marinich:

Last week we sat down as a family to watch the “The Karate Kid.” Not the original one, but the new one with Will Smith’s kid and Jackie Chan in it. I was really skeptical because I hate Jackie Chan movies, and was surprised that I actually enjoyed the movie. Well, the movie is about Dre who is a 12 year old boy who was forced to move to China and is constantly beat up. Chan’s character is an older guy named Mr. Han and he watches out for Dre, and finally decides to teach him Kung Fu.

Now, I’m not sure why they called the movie the Karate Kid because no one does Karate in the movie, everyone practices Kung Fu... Let me digress and tell you why I am writing a movie review. Although not remotely as good as the original movie, this movie makes an effort to deepen the back stories of the main characters.

Through out most of the movie we see Mr. Han working on a VolksWagonthat is parked in his living room. Sometimes the movie points this out, and other times we simply see him sanding, or welding, etc. About half way through the movie I was surprised by a profound moment that takes place that involves thecar.

Late one night Dre walks in on an obviously drunk Mr. Han while he is beating his car with a sledge Hammer. After destroying the car he opens the driver side door and sits in silence. After a little pressing from Dre we find out that Mr. Han was married with a son, and that while fighting with his wife while driving one day he wrecked the car. His wife and son had died but he remained to deal with life after them. After an awkward silence Mr. Han finally says, “Every year I fix the car, but still fix nothing.”

Think about that statement for a second. Instead of dealing with his pain, he relives the moment every year hoping that somehow by undoing the wreck he can somehow fix his guilt and pain. Then when it doesn't work he destroys it to try it the next year.

Let me ask, how many of us are fixing cars only to destroy them so that we can repeat the cycle all over again. You see do this same things in our lives and unfortunately like Mr. Han no matter how many times we fix our cars, we still fix nothing.

Dre then pulls Mr. Han out of the car and gets him to go outside to continue training. Mr. Han seems as if he gets a second chance at life and discovers his purpose through training Dre. Later in another touching scene Mr. Han tells Dre that he had taught him a valuable lesson. Mr. Han then says, “Life will knock us down, but we can choose mad or not to get back up.”

You see, we all have that car we fix hoping to somehow fix something wrong with us at the same time. When it doesn't work we destroy it so that we can be distracted by the working only to be let down again. We get stuck in a cycle of continual hurt, pain, and destruction. We, like Mr. Han, must find away to have purpose and move on with our lives. We have to deal with our circumstances, be mad, get back up, and start to contribute again.

We cant control most situations in our lives, but we can control how we react to those situations. That is the lesson we see in this movie. Mr. Han found a way to move on, and changed not only Dre’s life but also his own.

Its ok to be upset and to grieve, but we must choose to do something about it. We need to stop fixing our cars, and start dealing with our issues. We also need to allow God to rebuild us into something He can use. Lets get out of the destructive cycle that fixes nothing and let God control our circumstances.

Thank you “Kung Fu Kid”, for teaching us all a valuable lesson.

Carlisle Daily
Carlisle, Ohio 45005
Operated by TheVoiceofMiamiValley.com
Serving CarlisleDaily.com, TheFranklinVoice.com, and TheSpringboroVoice.com
The articles and posts on this site do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the management and owner of The Voice of Miami Valley. Letters and Guests are welcome to submit to The Voice and all other sites managed by The Voice of Miami Valley. All submissions must be published with signatures. No unsigned submissions will be published. Submissions should be emailed to owner@thevoiceofmiamivalley.com Thank you for your readership!