Are you a windsock?

So, tonight I went to see the movie "Lions for Lambs" with a friend of mine. My friend complained about horrible this movie was from the moment it ended until about an hour later. Note to my thinking friends out there: Go see this movie. I think my friend disliked the movie because she is unaware of things going on in the world around her and she didn't really understand what the movie was about. During one part of the movie, a college student points out that 50 percent of college juniors don't know the names of their state senators. About an hour after the movie, my friend asks who her senator is.

There are about two dozen quotes from this movie that I could type right now. The basic premise of the movie is as follows, although I don't plan to give everything away:

A college professor of political science pulls a student into his office that he feels is not reaching his full potential. He tells a story to this student about two of his previous students. The professor says that you have to find something to stand for or you're nothing. His previous two studetnts were from bad neighborhoods, but got an elite education on athletic scholarships. These two bright students decide to enlist in the military so they feel like they are doing something to change the world. The professor tells this student of a privilieged background, that its always those that our country cares the least about that are first to volunteer to defend it and those who are privileged that take the biggest step back from responsibility. That its not what grade you get from a class that matters, but the lessons you learn from it. Meanwhile, a journalist is struggling with the fact that during her 40 years in the profession, her network has gone from gathering the facts to reporting entertainment news. A state senator with a new plan for Afghanistan calls her a "windsock." He says she "goes with the prevailing winds" and has let the majority opinion become the moral opinion.

I can't do justice to this movie. It's relatively short and the ending leaves you pondering the state of things in our society. I love the college professor character in the movie. Reminds of a mentor I was had. And the senator makes an extraordinary point when he says the government has screwed up in the war on terror and mistakes were made by those in power. But the mistakes were honest mistakes because they were made in a moment of fear to protect families, children, our values, our entire existence.

See the movie. Tell me what you think. Just when I feel apathetic and don't wanna think about the war on terror or our horrible foreign relations, this movie pushes me to think--a good thing. I don't want to be a windsock...