Quote of the Something-n-Other
So everyone else likes the whole "With great power comes great responsibility" line. Personally, I went with S2's new one:

"Sometimes, in order to do what is right, you have to give up that which you want most."

Sometimes you have to give up a life's dream just to take your spot in the grand scheme of everything. The worst times are when there's a few seconds that decide for the rest of your time which you're going with. The feeling of, "Oh if I only had two more seconds, I could have done both." The misery of regret or the tragedy of a loss of passion. No clear winners either way.

Ah, that's the other thing. The other part of S2 that really made an impact (besides all the really awesome special effects) was Peter's constant little problem. No matter how hard or often he tried to do the right thing, there was always something overshadowing what he did, telling him he wasn't good enough. The burning building scene is the best example of this. It works because we've all felt the boost of esteem when we do something for someone else, no matter how little, and then something else happens to make us realize our little good deed was only a drop of water on a raging fire. Maybe a thin plume of steam to show where the drop was right before it dissolved completely, if we're lucky.

It's the despair of feeling powerless to change the world. Wondering (very "Its a Wonderful Life" like) if there's really any point to existing. Other people have been there. I know I have. I've even had a few times when I would just sit on my bed at night, hugging my pillow or maybe a plushie and glare out at the moon or a few stars. And (yes, this'll sound crazy, but remember, mesa ist religious, so dealeth :p) I'd mentally be yelling at God or arguing with Him; all He'd say back to me at those times is, "Everything's going to be ok." Then I'd just sit there, shedding hot silent tears--ya know, the kind that make you feel like your heart's about to break because it just hurts so much--being angry at God because no, everything does not feel like it's ok. The world's not fair and how dare You sit up there and tell me it's going to be ok--You don't know what I've been through, and what it's like down here! I'd ignore Him, try to just drown myself in the emotion because, hey, if I don't have the power to do what I want to help the world, then screw it.

And He still would step past all that and tell me, "It's going to be fine. Let Me take care of it."

There'd be more tears. I didn't want to believe it's that easy. I didn't want to let go of the awful feeling or to relinquish the control. I still wanted to make someone understand just how unfair the world is being, but then I would remember that God knows what we went through because He went through it and He knows just how we feel. I believe there's a plan and a reason for everything in life, even if we can't comprehend it right away. Sometimes we get the benefit of hindsight. Then again, we might die without knowing why some stuff "happened to us". And there's some things that only a deity can do.

(And yes, my self-control-freak still has problems to this day with that. ^^)

Whoa. Didn't mean to go all spiritual there. O.o; *grins at Dan, sees the email coming already*

And--well, damn it! I just went through a deep pyscho-something-or-other thought process because of one little line from a movie. A movie that's getting raves all over the freaking place because critics eat that intellectual stuff all up.

*whines comically* God, it's not faiiiiiiiiiiiir...

OK, I still don't feel as much sympathy for Peter as I was supposed to. But you know what?

Go Spidey.