Fight through the Wall

I'm a very Attack on Titan mood tonight (or just...all the time) so why the heck wouldn't I want to talk a little bit more about the show. But instead of talking about what the series is, I'll be using what I think the message of the series might be instead.

The series revolves around humanity being preyed upon by giant monsters, Titans, whose only motive is to eat or crush humans (what we know for now, at least). Thus, humanity erected three walls: Maria, Rose, and Sina, to protect themselves. However, Wall Maria gets destroyed and the Titans are left to run inside Wall Maria, forcing humanity behind Wall Rose, and for a third of the population to die.

Thus the series becomes a fight against the Titans to save themselves, find out the secret of the Titans, and take back Wall Maria and their lives.

Though at first we might see this as just a story about vengeance, I actually see it about a story that all of us can relate to. Even a story about freedom.

People often say that they put up their emotional walls to block people out, to conceal their secrets and protect themselves. They want to defend themselves, that makes sense and is a fair thing for them to do.

You have to wonder, though, what happens if you close off the wall for a long time? What happens on the inside, and more importantly, the outside?

If the walls go up and things go unchanged, how much can we really help ourselves by staying hidden behind the walls of our emotions? What we can never do is grow, we can  never learn to trust the outside world.

In the series, young Eren Yaegar yearns to go outside the walls, to learn what is outside and what more can be had of it. He wants to see "oceans of fire" and "mountains of ice." He wants to believe in seas of salt, a rare mineral behind the walls of humanity.

Then there are those that are content behind the walls. The people who grow lazy, who could care less about the other people around them. I feel like we are sometimes those people, and in that, we are never ready for what can happen.

We are never ready for when the walls break down, for when we are suddenly thrust into a situation we can never plan for.

In the world of Attack on Titan, that would be bad thing, as that would be letting all of the Titans in and pretty much dooming us all.

In our world, that is what we fear. We fear the Titans breaking into our walls, and having to retreat further and further, killing off as many things as we need to in order to feel safe. Not to be safe. But to feel safe, to get a false sense of security.

Perhaps if we had not gotten too adjusted to being inside the wall, if we had decided to act and to venture out beyond them with the help of people who know what they are doing, we could have avoided this mess.

What if I told you, though, that these very walls are created out of what we fear most? In a way, they really are. Why else would we put up walls? We seal them off with what we fear most, with the Titans (uh...not a spoiler...eheh...) because then it is similar to fighting fire with fire. A dangerous endeavor but would we rather use them and keep them out or just let them come barreling through the walls?

Honestly, the walls are nothing more than a cage for us. Sure, it is nice to have some things to ourselves but more importantly we shouldn't be afraid to hide who we are and our potential.

The main group of heroes in the show join the Survey Corps to defeat the Titans and learn their secrets, and their symbol is the "Wings of Freedom." That is what we should stride for, to be the wings of freedom in not only our own lives but to the lives of others.

What we should not aim to be is the Titan, but we should aim to be the Survey Corps. By hiding behind the walls, the cages, of our lives, we're not being the people we were born to be. We are not owning up to our God-given birthright of life.

Another theme the show uses is the theme of fighting, even if it means sacrifice. To fight for what believe in. Though in the show they have to protect the walls, I feel like we should be doing the opposite.

We should fight through the walls of our lives. Fight and fight until we feel free to be ourselves. The world might seem like a scary place full of Titans and to be a place where we need impenetrable walls, but it is also a place for us to take the skies using the wings of freedom we all bear given to use by God and be who we are.

Not everything is going to be perfect, that's just how things work, but what we can have assurance is in the fact that we are not hiding anymore. Even when we're hiding, how safe are we really? The Titans can get in without us ever knowing. They can back us into a corner and crush us.

But if we're out, fighting and being free in what we believe in, we can stand up to the Titans full force and take on the world with all our strength. We can link arms with the people who believe in us and the people who will support us, and we can free others from their cages.

I think something we can think about is what we are like in the eyes of others, and thus, we become afraid, we forget how brave and how powerful each of us are. If we would just stop thinking about what everyone else might think, we will learn what they really think and see them for who they really are. Heck, we may even be able to help them overcome their own fears and doubts.

Bravery comes at a price, though if you think about it, that price is happiness. Would you rather be brave doing something you want to do, something that makes you happy, or concede behind your walls doing what someone else wants while you simply trudge along in life? You're a pawn, a slave, to that machine. A monkey in a cage.

We are more than that, we were created for more. We were created to go beyond the wall to the seas of fire and the mountains of ice. We were created in the image of perfection, never forget that, and to be beings of freedom.

I don't know a Bible verse for any of this--though I wish I did--but just think about all the great men and women who rose up, fought, got through their walls, and did what they were called to do. Something each and every one of us is capable of, and it is something we neglect day in and day out.

If we would just listen, be brave, and rise up, we would see that the world from the floor behind the walls is far different from the one on our wings beyond it. There is not darkness, there is light. The Titans can't stop us out there, because, where can they corner us in God's world?