FOREWARNING: ***SPOILER ALERT***
I realize Shawshank Redemption is an older movie, and most have seen it. I just love this move. It is definitely a favourite and must see if you haven’t seen it. I have watched Shawshank Redemption at least four or five times, and it never gets old each time. It is about an accountant that gets convicted for murdering his wife and wife’s-lover. He gets two consecutive life sentences for a crime he did not commit. Andy, an innocent man, endures circumstances never anticipated in his quiet, humble, accountant life, and now has to adapt to the brutalities of prison-life ran by a corrupt prison warden and his prison guard minions. No one believes Andy is innocent, yet very patiently he quietly goes through the motions of living with the bad while surprising both prisoners and prison staff with his boldness and ability to have access to obtain resources to create a better prison life for the prisoners. Finally, in the end is an orchestrated plan that was in effect from the very beginning; a punchline so shocking it could not have been predicted by anyone, not even the very sly warden who gets his along with the others involved in the warden’s criminal activity. And Andy… well, he finds paradise.
Redemption
I like to believe in redemption. We all like Andy because we are all a lot like him and we identify with his anguish. All of us, unfortunately, experience oppression. We all have that one person or situation in our life that we have to smile sweetly to, and say excuse me ever so politely to, when what we really want to do, deep down, is scream our heads off or kick someone or something for being completely miss-understood, taken for granted of or mistreated.
I think Andy is a great role-model; he masters his ability not to loose it and to always have hope. We all can be like Andy. If we really believe in good than we can know that there is redemption. When we persevere through the tough times we will eventually see that there are blessings along the way. When times are tough it may seem impossible to see any good in it. God is good, and good trumps bad every time. I realize Shawshank Redemption is a fictional movie, but it is a great one that inspires hope as it also mirrors Biblical truths.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1,2
Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
Shawshank Redemption
Shannie Alvarez 