Short Term 12 and a Story That Changes Community

I’ve worked about six years in retail at this point in my life. It’s a tough choice, because out of those years I’ve only worked in two retail jobs, but I definitely enjoyed selling comics more than TVs and Lego sets at Target.

What I loved most about working in a comic book store was the incredible relationships you make when you see the same people every single week. Not best friend relationships, or even close friend ones, but ones where people trust you with their dollar.

There was a point, about once a month, where I knew that a book was good and there was a small group of my trusted customers who needed to read it. Instead of walking up and giving them the hard sale about the book’s plot and art, I simply reached to the wall, grabbed off a copy, handed it to them and said, “Trust me.”

So imagine with me, for just a second, that you trust me like that. This blog is that store. You come in, just expecting to get a weekly pick-me-up of entertainment, and as I hand you a stack of things you already know are good, like Wes Anderson and Netflix Originals, I place at the top of your stack Short Term 12.

Just trust me. Don’t ask questions, and as much as you can, don’t worry about how much it costs. It’s worth it. Every single penny.

I’d never heard of the director, and only a few of the actors, but as the movie began I was already hooked into everything they were doing. Short Term 12 is the story of a group home and the lives of those inside of it.

It’s a story of trust and mistrust.

Abuse and love.

Community and seclusion.

I loved every second of this movie, not because of the incredible cinematography or brilliant script, but because this was one of the first movies where I empathized with every single character I met. I yearned for things to be made right and new in the same ways that they did. This movie takes a look at the a big portion of how our world operates and says, “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be, and we hate it.”

This fact is no news to you or me. He has returned to make things new, but yet there is still the ‘not yet’ portion of that frustrating analogy where this world is still full of man’s depravity. This movie tells that story, about girls abused by their fathers and boys left by their mothers. It tells a story where even when we know that something is definitely wrong, bureaucracy and correctness get in the way of making things right.

Living your life doing everything you can to push back the effects of sin and destruction in this world is the best way I’ve found yet, and these filmmakers couldn’t seem to agree more. I don’t say this about many films, but I believe this one has the power to change a community and the way it looks at adoption, fostering of children, and justice against those who are being abused and neglected.

The truth is, we can’t save everyone, but we can start with one and see how far we get.