AWESOME MOVIE.....

I love a good movie. You know the movie that you walk away from feeling so good and inspired by. We watched Invictus tonight. It was so so so good.

The poem that is quoted in the movie is pretty amazing too.
I love the last part "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my destiny"

Invictus

OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

I found an interpretation of this poem on Yahoo Answers;

Darkness is a metaphor for evil, and perhaps depression, "The Pit" is Hell. The writer, in thanking the Gods for his "unconquerable soul" is meaning that whatever bodily adversity he faces, his soul will remain unconquered.

The second verse repeats the theme, the body may be broken, but not the spirit (Fell = bad or evil)

The third verse talks about the "Place of wrath and tears" meaning the physical worls (Cf the Burial Service from the book of common prayer, refering to life as "this vale of tears" (Wrath = anger) and also the "Horror of the Shade" which is a poetic expression for Death (Shade = a ghost or spirit) and even faced with both of these the writer is unafraid.

"Strait the gate" is a biblical reference (Strait = narrow)
the last two lines repeat the main theme, that a person is responsible for their self, whatever happens in life.

The Author of the poem is 

William Ernest Henley. 1849–1903
At the age of 12, Henley fell victim to tuberculosis of the bone. A few years later, the disease progressed to his foot, and physicians announced that the only way to save his life was to amputate directly below the knee. It was amputated when he was 25. In 1867, he successfully passed the Oxford local examination as a senior student. In 1875, he wrote the "Invictus" poem from a hospital bed. Despite his disability, he survived with one foot intact and led an active life until his death at the age of 53.


I am always amazed at the way we as individuals are capable of so much and yet we hold our selves down by the choices we make. I have always said "I choose happiness" I also choose to be "the master of my fate and the captain of my soul". I think Heavenly Father intended this for us. We have the power to choose. Choose the right or the wrong. Choose to be happy or choose to be miserable. Let the negative bring me down or over come it. In my patriarchal blessing I was told that "my destiny is in my hands". It truly is.