Who are you?

by | Apr 25, 2012 | Misc | 0 comments

The Who immortalized the question in song. Rapt movie audiences asked the question of a young man for the first 30 minutes of The Bourne Identity. Every human looks in the mirror at some point and asks himself or herself the question. Asking the question is as natural as answering the question is difficult.

Hub McCann knows how to answer the question. This mysterious man—at the center of the 2003 movie Secondhand Lions—is wrestling with grief and aging. After a heart attack scare, Hub (Robert Duvall) checks himself out of the hospital and takes his brother, Garth (Michael Caine), and their great nephew, Walter (Haley Joel Osment), to a hole-in-the-wall for barbeque. There, a handful of greasers challenge him.

Click image to play video

Teenager: Hey, who do you think you are, huh? 

Garth: [quietly] Just a dumb kid, Hub. Don’t kill him.
 

Hub: [to Garth] Right.
 [Grabs the teenager by the throat]


Hub: I’m Hub McCann. I’ve fought in two World Wars and countless smaller ones on three continents. I led thousands of men into battle with everything from horses and swords to artillery and tanks. I’ve seen the headwaters of the Nile, and tribes of natives no white man had ever seen before. I’ve won and lost a dozen fortunes, KILLED MANY MEN and loved only one woman with a passion a FLEA like you could never begin to understand. That’s who I am. NOW, GO HOME, BOY! [source | video]

If pressed, how would you answer the question? Would your words resound in the soul like Hub’s? Would you shrug and mumble a half-hearted answer? Would you offer your elevator pitch? Would you over-spiritualize? Would you put yourself down?

For too many years, my answer would’ve been either self-deprecating or it would’ve had too much spin. I hope very soon to be able to answer with confidence and clarity. Here are three things of which I’m reminding myself as I answer the question right now:

  1. Everyone has a past and past regrets. I can’t let the past define my present or stunt my future. I am forgiven.
  2. I am created in the image of God. This must impact how I think, what I feel, and how I act.
  3. I am gifted to do certain things… and should avoid others. I should feel honored to use my gifts and should NOT feel like a lesser human being that I can’t do other things.
If someone asked you the question
and you were to respond like Hub,
what would your answer sound like?
Tell me in the comments below.
P.S. Brentwood Baptist Church choir members are answering the question well. We are encouraged to remind ourselves and each other, “We are everyday people worshipping the everlasting God.” That’s a good answer. (Watch this laugh-out-loud and touching promo video.)