What Would You Say to Leeloo Dallas?
Finding Beauty in a World of Hate: A Lesson from the Fifth Element
The Fifth Element, starring Bruce Willis, Mila Jovovich, Chris Tucker, and Gary Oldman, absolutely rocked my childhood.
Honestly, I can't even tell when I saw it for the first time and who even allowed me to watch it in the first place. The movie is a cult classic I watch at least once a year.
The Fifth Element has everything. It's Sci-fi. It's a comedy. There is opera. There is blood, alien blood. And there are enough half-naked and mildly naughty scenes for every pubescent junior high student to enjoy.
I don't care how many Rotten Tomatoes the movie has or if it was a box office failure. It deserves every flower I can give for asking a question that, even today, I don't know how to answer.
The question
In the movie, Leeloominaï Lekatariba-Lamina-Tchaï Ekbat de Sebat (Leeloo) is an ancient relic resurrected to save the world. Aside from the initial shock of waking up in the future, Leeloo enters the world with enhanced strength, speed, and the excitement of an infant. To her, everything is beautiful and deserves attention. She devotes herself to learning as much as possible, uses a new-age encyclopedia, and instantly consumes centuries of knowledge to catch up on everything she has missed quickly.
Until she types W and finds the word "war." Within seconds, Leeloo is shown the ugliest side of humanity.
Shock and horror fill her eyes with the questions we ask ourselves daily. Why do people hurt others? Why do people go so far in their attempt to hurt others that they hurt innocent people? If this is a natural part of humanity, are all people evil?
With all these questions clouding her mind, Leeloo faces a difficult decision as she's on the verge of dying. Her reason for being resurrected as the fifth element is to save the world. Yet, when the time comes, she hesitates.
Seconds before the meteor smashes into the Earth, Leeloo asks,
“What is the use of saving life when you see what humanity will do with it?
The protagonist, Korben Dallas, played by Bruce Willis, instinctively responds to Leeloo,
“There are beautiful things.”
This leads to Korben talking about what he loves in this world and ultimately confessing his love for Leeloo. Love is the stimulus that activates the fifth element and obliterates the sentient meteor tasked with destroying the world.
What would you say to Leeloo?
If I had to save the United States similarly, I'd hesitate. What are the beautiful things that Korben speaks about? At times, I struggle to find the beauty in my city, Texas, and throughout the U.S.
All I see is hate.
What example of love would I use to convince an all-powerful being to save America from destruction when I can't see it myself?
If I were Moses, how could I plead to God on Mount Sinai to save the people when I know what people do, the awful things that people do?
The world is such a dark place, especially in the United States. At boiling point after boiling point, I sometimes fail to see the "helpers" that Mr. Rogers talks about. It's healthy to disagree, but we should not seek to expel or hurt those we disagree with. At some point, coming together as a nation must trump self-interest through peaceful democracy.
Yet, as an eligible voter, I need more confidence to convince myself and a next-generation voter in junior high that this country is worth saving.
For the record, for all of this country's darkness, the U.S. is worth saving, and I will always do my part to ensure it does.
The U.S. is worth saving even for what this nation brings. Even with my beliefs, I fear the next generation of Americans has seen too much.
Our students were born into terror, war, natural disasters, racial violence, religious violence, mass shootings, school shootings, social media, politics, a pandemic, and two and a half years of school. Problem after problem, they have not seen a united nation rally together to solve their crises. Instead of solutions, our students are left with a nation drastically moving further apart by adults screaming at adults until the fabric of this nation bursts out its seams.
Again, the U.S. is worth saving. There is a Leeloo, a junior high student, who will look at this world through the eyes of an infant, grasp onto the myth of what this nation strives to achieve, and solve all our current problems.
That student or students need us to remind them of how amazing this country aims to be, even when it fails. We must remind the next generation that shaping "America the Beautiful" requires action and energy that some may see as challenging.
Here's what I hope we do.
Start with what we know.
Let’s have an honest conversation. Americans can be awful. Americans have done terrible things. At times, it feels as if Americans hurt other Americans for pleasure.
Hate spreads incredibly in the U.S. We know this because positivity doesn't always trend on our social media. Our attention gravitates to demeaning jokes, toxic music, political vitriol, and fight videos.
Even if a person deserves a consequence, why do we enjoy watching their downfall? Why can't we see the victims for who they are, even if it's only for a moment? Why don't we protect other citizens simply because they are citizens of our country? Most importantly, they are human.
Maybe it's because we're happy the trauma is not upon us. Perhaps we need to laugh at the victim before we become one. Or maybe we're so numb to evil that we're blind to the goodness around us.
It is easier to believe that one evil act can change the world versus all the everyday reminders of how small acts of kindness impact the world daily.
Genuine acts of kindness should go viral within our borders instead of the hateful media that showers the internet.
We have to change the algorithm for ourselves and the next generation so they believe in what it means to be a U.S. citizen.
While some say the U.S. is in chaos, let's try to find the beautiful things we love about this country.
Bring people to the table.
We have the best food in the world because we have the world's table on every street. Anyone can find any cuisine they desire in the U.S. Though it may not outshine its source, the U.S. fusion makes it unique.
We take the iPhone approach. We take what we can from its predecessors and polish it up. With more butter and a fryer, we package innovation and slap it with a new, sleek name; thus, a new product is born.
Did the recipe need to change? Probably not. Through change, other cultures added their input, ideas, and love to create something special. Something worth gaining weight for.
This is why I love U.S. food. Subconsciously, so many cultures are brought together in beautiful harmony.
Suppose we fought for food as hard as we do in politics. In that case, we'd have nationwide pizza competitions where we'd elect the pizza of the year. Aside from the occasional food fight, we'd have to eat and talk as a nation, put our prejudices down, and make better pizza together.
We can substitute pizza for any other food. That's the beauty of food. We have to eat to live, why not enjoy it? The beauty is when we enjoy it together.
I want my kids to grow up knowing that the U.S. is more than the hatred and violence that siphons the attention of the goodness emanating from our neighbors. Beauty lies when we come together. For my children, I want to show them that it is possible. If the day ever comes for my kids to save the U.S. or the world, I hope they won't hesitate to make an impact.