By Jad Tabet
I have recently been hooked on an animated series that my friend recommended to me after finding out that I enjoy Japanese narratives. Part of the draw of these narratives for many Arab young adults is that they combine aspects from both the shame-and-honor cultures of the Middle East that we grew up in and the guilt-and-innocence cultures of the West that we grew up learning about. These stories most often focus on heroes who, out of love for their friends, families, and community, push themselves above and beyond to achieve the greater good.
The main draw for me, however, has always been how these characters are able to remain focused on leading purposeful lives despite the direst of circumstances. In these stories, characters strongly cling to their sense of purpose, especially when they are faced with failure, which drives them forward when they are faced with setbacks. It is this sense of a purpose-driven life that I believe is missing from our lives in our postmodern societies. However, Christ offers us a purposefulness that transcends the banality of life we experience as exploited consumer-producers and gives us a role as agents of His Kingdom.
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