Religion CPT Stuff Grade Nine

Grade 9 Religion
imagining, more than they would be, about what they’d ask for if they had a doctor
like that, how they may react. Most importantly, the movie resembled life. Like all
good movies, true story or otherwise, it didn’t sugar-coat the pitfalls, like Carin’s
death, and as good as the triumphs were, they didn’t spend a ton of time celebrating
them, because with every win in life, we think about all the work this new win entails.
“Patch Adams” didn’t ask us to see the point of people in Narnia or Hogwarts – it asked
us to see the point of every day life. “8 Crazy Nights,” while hilarious and surprisingly
catchy, had very specific lessons to be learned, as with the other films we’d seen, but
“Patch Adams” was more of a “one-size-fits-all,” and its message isn’t a hard one to
try to live by. It didn’t rely on specific character types, the way “8 Crazy Nights” used
an orphan – Robin Williams played an average man who made a few mistakes, but in
the end, he was a regular person, who studied hard with his friends, had lost his
girlfriend, and still worked hard to make life better for others. Though it took the
“niceness” to an extreme, even Patch himself refers to this ideal at the end of the film
– “We work so hard to treat the patient’s sickness, but what of the patient?” We
certainly don’t need to be doctors to help others to the best of our ability, and it’s
something we can try for every day.
While this movie definitely tied into the concept of Howard Gardner’s “Multiple
Intelligences” theory, it also provided a good end to our religion class, and perhaps
the reason the movie struck such a cord with me was because it was a good way to
close out the semester, and the Religion course. The main role of Religion, as is taught
in Catholic schools, is teaching us names, dates, and teachings present in the Gospel,
which is all very good and important. However, knowing all of this is meant to
encourage us to be better people – to avoid being mean ourselves and devote our
time to helping others. It’s an over-said quote, but “The Golden Rule” effectively sums
up teachings, and although knowing the details of Jesus’ life is all well and good, it’ll
mean nothing if we’re not able to apply what we learned to our lives. In the end,
“Patch Adams” gives us an idea of the priorities we should have, not putting grades
first but putting others first. This movie reminds us, through it’s symbolism, it’s
characters, and its story, that religion, no matter which it is or what teachings you’re
certain of, isn’t a foundation for “offending in the name of God,” like some media
outlets will have you believe, but is instead a foundation to “do good in His name,”
and Patch gave us a slightly exaggerated idea of what that might look like.
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