To me Luke Skywalker will always be the young man who rushed to the aid of a girl heâd never even metâwhose selfless courage and desire to help defined both the beginning of his journey, and its end.
To me Luke Skywalker will always be the character who was disbelieving and angry to learn that the apparent mercenary heâd met was choosing money and self-preservation over the rebellionâthe PEOPLEâwho needed him. Heâll always be the character to whom it was unthinkable and inexcusable to abandon those in danger, to refuse to fight for whatâs right. Heâll always be, âThey could use a good pilot like you. Youâre turning your back on them.â
In my eyes Luke Skywalker will always be the man risking his life for the causeâfor the galaxyâso that others might one day live in freedom and peace. He will always be the pilot, the rebel, the soldier who would not let tyranny stand unopposed.
And to me Luke Skywalker will always beâindisputablyâthe character who would never forsake his loved ones. Who would never give them up, and never give up on them. Heâll always be the character whose loyaltyâto his friends, to his familyâwas unfaltering. He will always be, âIâve got to go to them.â Will always be, âTheyâre my friends. Iâve got to help them.â Always, âAnd sacrifice Han and Leia?â Always, âThat is why I have to go.â
Luke Skywalker will always be faith. Heâll always be hope. Irrevocably and without question, Luke is the very embodiment of it. To me, Luke Skywalker will always be the character who says, âI canât kill my own father.â The character whose belief in the Light and the Force and in humanity is so true and so strong that he saves the galaxyâso powerful that he saves his fatherâs soul.
Luke Skywalker is âNever! Iâll never turn to the dark side.â He is, at his heart and in my heart, the man who sees so clearly, who understands so completely, that he casts aside his lightsaber rather than fight to save his own lifeânot because heâs given up or because heâs weak or a coward, but because of his faithâbecause Luke Skywalker will die sooner than give into hatred. He will lay down his weapon sooner than turn to darkness.
To me, Luke Skywalker will always be this truth, this goodness. He will always be the hero that realized the TRUE meaning of the Force, who understood what, for all their wisdom and good intentions, his masters did not: that it is love, not detachment, that saves. It is the strength of love, the belief in love, the power of love that saves us. Luke Skywalker will always be this, for me. He will always be this love, this faith where faith seems impossible, and this enduring hope where it seems that all hope has been lost.
And most importantly of all, to me Luke Skywalker will always be not only the character who loved, who hoped, who had faith, but the character whose story tells usâimplores us, promises usâthat this love is not in vain. That such faith is not foolish. That GOODNESS like thatâbecause to me, Luke Skywalker is and will always be goodnessâis not weakness, but strength that overcomes all else. Luke Skywalker is the Light Side. He is the long-awaited hope. He is the hero we all need to believe can existâthe hero that realityâthat war and violence and maliciousnessâso cruelly tries to tell us could never be.
That is Luke Skywalker. He is this beacon. Luke is the hope that prevails. The faith that is rewarded. The journey that tells us that love can and will overcome evil even against the most impossible odds. Luke Skywalker is the story that begs us not to give up, that leads us to take a stand against oppression, and hatred, and hopeless darknessâthe character who tells us to believe as we all, as human beings, so desperately want to.
To me, no matter what, Luke Skywalker will always be,
âI am a Jedi, like my father before me.â