The Dark Side?

"If you don't be careful, your son is going to turn to the dark side..." was the foreboding of  my initial encounter with a psychic.  I thought she was mocking my family's infatuation with Star Wars...but as I giggled and she didn't, I realized she wasn't joking.


Last week a few of the girls and I decided to visit the winery across the street because Suzanna the psychic was doing readings for the bargain price of $5! Finally, a chance to hear if I was really going to get that big publishing deal or not...Low and behold, Suzanna felt it more compelling to warn me of things she sees coming in my son's future...and just in the nick of time.


"Does he have trouble finishing things?" she asks.


-I nod. Actually, I think he has a little trouble starting things. But I don't tell her this.


"You don't have a computer or video games in his room, do you?"


-"No." But they are in the room he's planning on moving into soon. Yikes. Bad idea? 


"Tell his father that he needs to spend much more time with him. And don't let him spend so much time by himself on the computer and on video games. The problem is that your son is too damn cute and no one thinks he is capable of doing anything wrong."

Just look at this face...

Okay. I'm totally with her on this.  The innocent little face speaketh too much about the day that he will drinketh. He's way too obsessed with bands like KISS and Guns N Roses. And, of course, I need to shut off the damn computer, IPOD Touch, DS and WII. Anyone know of super-encrypted locks that no nine-year old could hack? Oh wait, Cole installed his own lock on his IPOD Touch...even he couldn't get into until we called Apple... Anyway, who was the idiot who bought those gadgets for him anyway? Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy. But back to my story.


So, even though my dearest Doug thought I was crazy, as usual, and only looking for an excuse to visit a winery, even HE tuned in to Suzanna's advice.  (I think we both are on to Cole and his cute facade.) He got right on the stick and took him out for target practice that very night.

Well, maybe he'll still go to the Dark Side. But at least he'll be there with his Dad. But somehow I don't think so. Cole is very emphatic about only shooting inanimate objects like cranberry jugs...which makes his mother's animal-loving heart very proud. I might not be a psychic, but my intuition tells me that he's meant to be a Jedi.

Cole's Dark Side?

Why is it that my son Cole, who is a good boy, follows rules, treats people with respect, and who cried when Charlotte the Spider died, is completely obsessed with Anakin Skywalker? Not the Anakin before he turns to the Dark Side – the one who pledges himself to Darth Sidious and ultimately becomes Darth Vader.

Cole’s favorite past-time is light-saber fighting, as is many boys his age. His favorite scene? For you Star Wars fans, it’s lava scene fight between Obi and Anakin. (You know, right after Anakin almost kills his expecting wife.) Anakin’s (aka Cole) most revered line is, “If you are not with me, you are my enemy!”

His obsession with the Dark Side would bother me if my son was a bully, or even had a tendency for wrongdoing. I’m always relieved when he feels remorse for accidentally maiming someone with a light saber.

I think Cole’s intrigue stems from the fact that evil exists in the world, and by "playing out" the Dark Side, he is affirming his own existence of "bad feelings" including fear, anger and hate. Everyone experiences these feelings at one time or another, even if hate breeds from external forces of unthinkable crimes. While on the surface, we understand hate boils down to an unhealthy level of egoism and power, and we all internally struggle to find the essential balance of egoism and selflessness. Even when we're six years old. Or, perhaps especially when we're six years old.

Am I bothered by my own offspring's obsession with the Dark Side? No. Of course, I realize he knows Darth Vader, the symbol of evil, eventually brings balance to the force by overthrowing his master in Return of the Jedi.. And when goodness is restored in the World, my son is reassuring himself he is also good. The Star Wars metaphor is a common theme, but is brilliant because it works at so many levels of the human spirit and circumstance.

Okay, so maybe we take Star Wars a little too seriously in our household. But I will close these thoughts with the words we often use while tucking our young Jedi into bed at night, May the Force be with you.