Don't lose hope.

Sometimes, if you're looking for wisdom, the best thing to do is turn to a children's story.

DVD cover art, used without permission

This year is the 40th anniversary of the release of The NeverEnding Story, a fantasy film based on a children's book. In honor of the anniversary, the movie, with its 1980s vintage special effects intact, is having a limited theatrical release. I went to see it today.

It's not the first time I've seen it -- not by a long shot. The NeverEnding Story was in heavy rotation in our house when my daughters were small. I encouraged them to watch it because I wanted my kids to be readers and in a way, reading is the star of the film.

The main character is Bastian, a boy who has recently lost his mother (the implication is that she's dead). He's being bullied at school, and his father isn't much use. On the run from the bullies, Bastian takes refuge in a bookshop, where the owner is reading an intriguing-looking book. The owner tells him it's not safe for Bastian to read it, then steps away. So of course Bastian pinches the book (he leaves a note saying he'll bring it back, bless his heart) and races off to school. But he doesn't go to class. Instead, he runs up to the attic, which is appropriately dusty and creepy, makes himself comfy on an old gym mat, and begins to read.

(These aren't spoilers. The movie's been out for 40 years, for crying out loud.)

The land in the book, Fantasia, is being devoured by a mysterious menace called the Nothing. The people turn to the Childlike Empress, their ruler, but she is near death. Still, she summons a great warrior named Atreyu and charges him to find a cure for her illness, which will also stop the Nothing.

Atreyu turns out to be very young -- merely a boy -- but brave and stout of heart. He accepts the Empress's charge and goes off adventuring. In his search for the cure, Atreyu loses everything. And at the very last, he must confront a vile, wolflike creature named G'mork.

G'mork explains a lot more to Atreyu than anyone else has so far. The creature says that the Nothing is "like a despair", and it has been growing stronger because "people have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams." The wolf goes on to say that "people who have no hopes are easy to control, and whoever has control has the power!"

Atreyu then kills the creature and, with his trusty luck dragon, Falkor, returns to the Empress to tell her that he has failed in his quest. 

But he hasn't, she explains. His real mission was to find a human boy, who is the only one who actually has the power to save Fantasia -- and who has been with Atreyu on his adventures, reading them, all along.

Bastian can't believe that the characters in the book know about him and are expecting him to save them. But finally, he does what the Empress asks and gives her a new name: his mother's -- Moon Child. And then he imagines Fantasia all put back the way it was before the Nothing, and it is.

***

It's been a rough day for those of us who wanted to see President Biden win a second term. He announced today that he's ending his campaign, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, and giving all his delegates to her.

It was a good afternoon to go to the movies and have a good cry, and I did -- when Atreyu's horse succumbed to the Swamp of Sadness, and when the Empress pleaded with Bastian to save Fantasia.

But it was G'mork's words that really struck me today. So much of political campaigning -- of marketing in general, really -- involves emotional manipulation. One of the most powerful emotions is fear, and so a politician will try to scare people about the world their opponent will create, so that the people will be afraid and lose hope -- making it easier for that politician to control them. 

Both sides do it. The difference for Democrats is that we've seen Trump's craziness with our own eyes. We've experienced his idea of governing. We've at least heard about Project 2025, the playbook his team intends to implement if he's elected again. We watched his supporters storm the Capitol when he lost in 2020. So when Democratic politicians talk about what could happen in a second Trump term, it rings true. We're know we're right to be scared.

I don't know what's going to happen over the next few weeks and months. Presumably Harris will win the Democratic nomination for president. (We now get to endure the breathless speculation about who her vice president will be. Lucky us?) She may debate Donald Trump at some point; Biden and Trump were supposed to debate on September 10th, but who knows whether that date will stand now. Before today, Harris's polling numbers against Trump were about the same as Biden's -- but it's still a little early in the process to put any faith in polling. Trump says he can beat her, but he also said he would beat Biden in 2020 (and of course, he still says he actually won).

In short, things are pretty crazy right now. But we should not lose hope. We, the voters, have all the power. Don't give up and give it away.

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These moments of moviegoing blogginess have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell. Vote blue this fall!