Being an adult means learning to make informed decisions, acting on them, and then taking responsibility for your actions and living with the consequences of them, for good or ill. It's not always easy- in fact, a lot of the time it's darn hard- but in my opinion, the alternatives are far worse. We don't have to look much further than a lot of college campuses today to see the results of attempting to shield people from personal responsibility, difficult experiences, and even points of view differing from their own. This does not result in mature individuals who are capable of introspection, reasoned debate, or of articulating what they believe and why. Rather, it has produced emotionally immature weaklings, who whine about "trigger warnings" and demand "safe spaces" where they can hide from any ideas or opinions which challenge their own. And they demand that those whose perspectives differ from theirs be shut down, disallowed, and even criminalized... much like the Elders. Shamefully, many universities give way to this disgraceful behaviour.
So this, at long last, is the end of my review of the film version of The Giver. Though by no means a perfect movie, it was an extremely thought-provoking one, which is something I always appreciate. Through its fictional account of the future, it affords us an opportunity to view and evaluate the present.
for the good of its victims may be the
most oppressive. It may be better to live
under robber barons than under omnipotent
moral busybodies. The robber baron's
cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity
may at some point be satiated; but those
who torment us for our own good will
torment us without end for they do so
with the approval of their own conscience.
-C.S. Lewis, God In The Dock