Movie explores three key elements of life

Luke Eide

Last weekend I went to the movie The Monuments Men.  The movie was one of those feel-good movies that we all love to watch every once in a while.  

The movie is based on a true story and follows a group of art-savvy men that try to overcome the many obstacles of Hitler’s art theft– re-obtaining the art, uncovering clues the locations of stolen art, finding an unexpected stash of gold and even returning the holy Madonna, a statue of Mary holding the Son of God.

The movie consisted of dry humor, irony and a couple of characteristics that I feel we as people on Earth so often forget about: the abstract necessities in life of faith and hope.  Personally, I would say that even love is a necessity for everyday life.

Whether you are a religious person or not, faith, hope and love are, in my opinion, the three most vital necessities in a person’s life.

I am not an expert when it comes to talking about other people’s experiences with love, but nevertheless life is full of it.  “We love Duck Dynasty;” “I love my children;” “I love SDSU;” “I love food or music;” and “I love my God;” are all very different forms of love and admiration that a person just simply can’t live without on a daily basis.  We adore or love these things because deep down this is an emotion inside us that we just can’t bear to live without.

While the majority of people probably consider faith and hope to be very similar; I look at them completely different.  The dictionary definition of faith is “a complete trust or confidence in someone or something.”  I had faith that the Broncos would win the Super Bowl, but I would clearly never trust them again.  I have faith in my God to help me through the day and I trust that he loves me for this.  I have faith in the Jackrabbits winning the Summit League tournament.  All of these things identify the presence of faith in our daily lives.  But what about hope?

I agree with John Pieper and the definition he used in the 1986 sermon series. Pieper states that hope is “(1) a desire for something good in the future, (2) the thing in the future that we desire, or (3) the basic reason for thinking that our desire may indeed be fulfilled.” There is nothing in this world I believe that is more important than hope.  

Although the movie was set in Nazi, Germany during WWII, The Monuments Men depicts faith, hope and love as key mindsets and vital abstract requirements for conquering any mission in any moment, day, or battle in your life.

I am stressing this topic because I often hear about someone failing a class or exam, hating their family, or hoping for something they know will never happen.  How much better could a day be if we focus on the people we have around us who love us?  Or have faith in one’s self or even hoping for something achievable? You can’t appreciate how great life can be until you see all that you already have.

Luke Eide is majoring in agricultural business. He can be reached at [email protected]