we went to see fahrenheit 9/11 yesterday and, though i have many thoughts about the film, one moment stuck out for purely geographical reasons.
at one point, michael moore shows a clip from the today show in which the hard-hitting journalist matt lauer is interviewing an inventor from none-other-than three rivers, michigan who had invented some sort of parachute device for escaping tall buildings in the event of an emergency. the parachute only works when jumping from more than ten stories, which begs the question: is three rivers the best place to develop such an invention, seeing as our tallest building is a mere three stories high?
the scene is hilarious regardless of this knowledge. while the inventor is describing how easy the device is to operate, his assistant is struggling to strap the thing on. she finally gestures in frustration, prompting lauer to interject, "it doesn't look too easy ..."
as the kalamazoo audience murmured and/or guffawed around me while watching their unsophisticated neighbors to the immediate south making fools of themselves on screen, i thought, "great, no one's going to believe a cultural revolution can come out of three rivers after seeing this ..."
the thought that quickly followed was, "change always comes from where it is least expected." the revolution might not come from the old tripple ripple in michigan, but it will come from somewhere as unimaginable as here. and it will be amazing to see how God can use the least of these for God's purposes.
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