Watched a live production of Sweeney Todd today. Wow, that was a downer! My favorite part was when all the characters that I had grown so attached to throughout the whole show murdered each other at the end. Now, this isn't a declaration that Sweeney and I didn't get along through much of the production (downers can be very important to my mental health sometimes), but I did find some of his philosophy to be uncomfortably intriguing. Two quotes come to mind, both having to do with Sweeney's decision to murder ALOT of people and turn them into meat pies.

"Because the lives of the wicked should be made brief. For the rest of us death will be a relief. We all deserve to die."

and

"It's man devouring man, my dear! Then who are we to deny it in here"

The scary thing is that these little social commentaries actually made sense to me at their time of delivery, which causes me to curse Mr. Todd and his keen ability to make me agree with depressing things. I'm taken back to the birth of my keen sense of duty to the world, sprouted from my days on the southern California beach (where so many social crusaders are born). I was the kid who got emotionally attached to his sand castle. Who actually became angry when the first wave breached his wall and moat defensive network. Upon first attack, I fought back with resilient determination. When the system inevitably failed I would find myself strewn across the front of my little sand village, taking the brunt of the waves, while the other children laughed instead of coming to my aid. Sweeney is just another one of those kids.
Life is hard (ok, Sweeney's was harder than mine), but its ours! Protect it. The D&C empowers us to be änxiously engaged in a good cause" and to "bring about much righteousness". There is more to life than watching our sand castles wash away. I'm grateful for a God who plans my trials for my good and allows me to struggle at making use of my life.