Word: Jedi

Jedi

or jed·i

[ jed-ahy ]

noun, plural Jed·is [jed-ahyz]

1) Also called Jed·i Knight [jed-ahy nahyt] . a guardian of peace and justice in the fictional Star Wars universe, able to wield a lightsaber and attuned to the power of “the Force,” an energy that connects all living things.

 

2) a person who has an unexplainable power over people or things, or who seems to enjoy unusual luck and positive outcomes, as if able to exert the power of the Force to mystically influence the universe: The defense lawyer was a jedi—two minutes into his closing argument the jury forgot all of the damning evidence that had been presented.

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              Alexis made herself as presentable as she could, given the situation. It was not that she had to, really, but she wanted to. Besides, she had to at least appear professional. Sure, it was just a babysitting job, but it was still a job. And she had worked at this house before, and knew the parents appreciated some level of cleanliness.

               Still, there was only so much she could do, since she was on their doorstep and had already wrung the bell. It only took a few moments for the door to be opened and Alexis welcomed into the suburban home. She got the usual spiel about the house and the Ben, the child she was babysitting.

               The boy himself came running into the living room and bouncing around excitedly. At only eight years old, Ben still had more energy than any one person should be allowed to have. But at least he had gained some measure of control, and was no longer interested in breaking everything just to see what would happen.

               Once Ben’s parents were out of the house, Ben smiled wide.

               “Hey, hey, guess what?” He asked.

               “I don’t know, what?” Alexis replied.

               “I know what I want to be when I grow up.”

               That was one of the boy’s oddities. He had never said what job he wanted. So far, every other child she sat for had something they wanted to do. Most of it was the usual childhood dreams. Dancers, actors, race car drivers, astronauts and the like. But Ben had never had any such dreams.

               “Really now? And what is it?”

               “I’m gonna be a Jedi.”

               “A…Jedi?” That was a new one. Apparently he had just watched Star Wars for the first time. She did not know much about the movies, since she was not a huge fan of sci-fi, but she knew the basics.

               “Yup.”

               “Wow. That sounds awesome.” Might as well humor the kid. It was always better to encourage imagination and creativity.

               “It is. And I’m gonna have a light saber and fly a space ship and have cool powers and everything.”

               Alexis thought hard and summoned the little knowledge she had on the subject.

               “So you’re going to learn all about The Force?’

               “Uh huh.  I can already do a little. Here, watch.”

               Time to play along. He would wave his hands around a bit, maybe make a few whooshing sounds, and Alexis would pretend to be affected by it. Much to her surprise, Ben turned away from her. He looked around the room until his eyes landed on a decorative bowl filled with glass beads on the coffee table.

               He ran over and pulled out one of the beads and set it on the table. He took a few steps back, held out his hand and closed his eyes. His face wrinkled in concentration. It was obvious what he was trying to do. Alexis was about to start playing along, when she saw the bead move.

                 It was not a large movement. It shifted and jumped around a little, but it was definitely moving. And then, much to her amazement, it rose off the table. Not a lot, less than an inch, but it was floating. It hovered for a moment before Ben dropped his hand and began gasping for air. The bead fell and remained still.

               “See? I told you I could do it.” Ben said. He words came through his heavy breaths, but were clearly happy.

               “Yeah. Yeah you did.” Alexis said, watching the bead with wide eyes.

               She turned to the boy, who was already gushing about all the cool jedi things he would be able to do when he grew up. And, after seeing what had just happened, Alexis wondered if he might actually be able to do all of it.

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 I think everyone's wanted to be a Jedi at some point in their lives. It's just something cool to pretend to be.