Empire

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away...
The Empire Strikes Back


It is a dark time for the Rebellion. Although the Death Star has
been destroyed, Imperial troops have driven the Rebel forces from
their hidden base and pursued them across the galaxy.

Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet, a group of freedom fighters
led by Luke Skywalker has established a new secret base on the remote
ice world of Hoth.

The evil lord Darth Vader, obsessed with finding young Skywalker,
has dispatched thousands of remote probes into the far reaches of
space...


And like that the real epic started. Who doesn’t love those sounds coming from the bouncing probe. Intergalactic Planetary Planetary Intergalactic. Intergalactic Planetary Planetary Intergalactic. Intergalactic Planetary Planetary Intergalactic.


And so the Empire struck back.
They took one man’s hand and another’s carbonite frame. Destroyed one boy’s entire self and crushed a rebellion under a dark leather boot.


Star Wars was something I always knew. It was always with me. Every blaster bolt, every fallen rebel, every wookie cry. The story of Star Wars was an a priori part in my life, like that my parents loved me or that summer was warm and night was dark.
I knew Vadar was Luke’s father like I knew my father was mine.

Maybe it’s the metanarrative, or maybe it’s the magic I saw at the end of Ben’s blue blade, but Star Wars was a part of me.

I was born in Michigan, but I died on Alderaan; and on the first Death Star; and the second. I saw Obi-Wan on Hoth, and Yoda on Endor and every last one of them on my first day of kindergarten.

When the tsunami hit in 2004, I felt that great disturbance in the force, I heard all those voices crying out for help…and heard them suddenly silenced.

There’s something unsettling for a kid when he hears Dak say he feels he could take on the whole Empire himself, and knowing all the while the poor bastard’s going to die with nothing but a pointless harpoon in his hands.
And Honestly, who the hell’s going to need a harpoon on Hoth? Are there even fish there? I can see hunting wampas but not eating one. I don’t think I could eat another humanoid-esq creature. And though I couldn’t see Lefty, Luke’s wampa friend, blush or smile, he certainly had a face. People don’t eat dolphins because they are so effing smart. But, what about bears and monkeys? Sure they aren’t all that smart, but shave a bear or a monkey and I bet you all my sabacc credits they wouldn’t look much different from Vader’s bald humpty dumpty dome. And come on, who’s really all that excited to try tauntaun venison? They smell horrible as it is, and with that cry they make I don’t think I could ever be so heartless as to kill one. But I digress.


-“I thought they smelled bad on the outside”-


Yeah, Han was going to skip out on the rebellion and Leia. And yeah, maybe Yoda was right and Luke wasn’t ready. And yes, Lando might have sold out his friends and been played right into Vader’s cold glove.

But, you know what, you can say what you want about me and the united states of America and the red and whites of the flag, but I’ll be dammed if you’re going to tell me anyone of them had their heart in the wrong place.

Because it’s at my mother and Star Wars that I draw the line in the sand, under one sun or two- I don’t mind!


I don’t know much or why people do what they do, and I didn’t as a kid either, but I did know a few things:


-I knew Wedge was the Man

-I knew Right was right and Wrong was wrong, and which side the Rebels were on, and I with them

-And I knew that a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away something big happened, something important, something that was going to change my life and all of ours

I wish I could say I didn’t know why Darth Vader cut off Luke’s hand, or told him he was his father. But I know I do on some level… we all do. I wish I could say there was no good left in Darth Vader, that he’d never be right again, just to make a little more sense of the whole matter of why’d he try to destroy his only son. (But Obi-Wan was right, about two things: 1) Our eyes can deceive us-we shouldn’t trust them, and 2) Anakin was betrayed and killed by Darth Vader.) But I know Darth had some good left in him, I know he was fighting some sort of internal battle too. And maybe, as awful as it was, even his heart was in the right place. But than again…maybe not.

I always knew Star Wars. It was in me. It was a part of me, of life, of childhood. I can remember watching the aged VHS we’d copied from TV. I can remember the bra ad that ran just after the Falcon’d escaped from the first Death Star and Luke and Han fought off the incoming tie fighters.

I can’t remember the first time I heard Vader’s voice telling Luke who he was, or Ben’s when he told who Leia was, or what my mom said when I asked her what “delusions of ‘gransure’” were. But I do remember who the son was, and the sister, and how Han fell back into Chewie’s arms.

I didn’t know how gravity worked, or what a “blast shield” was for (and for that matter I still don’t, but does anyone?), or any line that had a subtitle. And, as much as I wish I could say I knew the good guys were going to win; I didn’t. All I ever really knew was:

-That storm troopers can’t see well

-That light sabers don’t really make sense

-and that, above all, Darth Vader was and always will be Luke Skywalker’s father.


And, it may be sad, but I like that the older I get the more I wish I knew what that feeling of not knowing ever felt like.

So, the Empire struck back, and it struck back hard. But, maybe that’s a good thing, just like my not knowing how it felt to learn Vader was Luke’s father is a good thing. Because challenge provides change. And just like childhood, for me Star Wars is filled with more wishing then any one person will ever have fulfilled in this life. And that’s good, because it means I still have a ways to go. And lets face it, Luke was a pussy, and Han and Leia were pretty bitchy, and Darth Vader was an old man’s bitch. And hey, what kid isn’t one of those at some point in their life?


But through all that it’s nice to know that even if you’re a twerp like Threepio, NO MATTER WHAT, Chewie is there for you. And that’s what we need growing up, some big strong hairy arms to support us after a long stay in carbonite. So frak all the cylons and imp officers and borg cubes and give me my crew, my fleet, my rebel navy! My true friends!


Even if the empire strikes back, even if your dad is what seems like pure evil, even if you’ve never seen Star Wars, and don’t know it, the Force is with you, and every one of us. I promise. So remember, that no matter what, an old pal will always have your back.


Till next time, I’ll see you on the light side
CM
The Alderaanian