Team Gale! +1

 I love the Hunger Games. I am completely enamored by the story. I have only watched the first two movies and read the first book, but I love it!

Just read the scene where Snow threatens to kill Gale and demands that Katniss convince him about her love for Peeta to avoid any uprisings/rebellion. And I realized - Snow is stupid. Katniss is right to wonder that the system is so fragile to be affected by a couple of berries. Snow is really stupid. Even if Katniss is the spark for any near future rebellions, he can't blame her. When you oppress a huge population en-masse, they will rebel. If not sooner, then eventually.  When their torment and pain exceeds any fear of retribution from their oppressor, when death no longer scares them behind closed doors, they will fight back. Every leader should know this. So the rebellion part is kinda boring. Cause, yawn... that's so cliche. Was gonna happen anyways. 

What excited me was the spark - Katniss. And the world she built. Her family didn't have all the riches in the world, but they had all the things that mattered. Love, family, peaceful hunting days with Gale, amity, connection. Amicable & respectful connections with community - the Hob, the butcher, the mayor (with his love of strawberries), the merchants... How she brought home roots and plants for her mother's apothecary and for food. And the injured goat for her sister knowing that her sister would heal it. They had fresh game, bread, plants, goat milk & cheese.... medicine, reasonable clothes, a house. All the basic necessities. It might not seem much, but it was the world. Love of family, respect from community, friendship (e.g. Madge), companionship in Gale (I am team Gale all the way!)...

And then I wondered how she did it. How did Katniss find the will to live when her father died? Her mother I could understand. When her father died and her mother shut down, that made sense to me. She was in too much pain and didn't know what to do. But how did Katniss find the strength to go on despite the pain and nightmares? Was it Prim? Would it have been different if Prim weren't around? Katniss did end up reaching her wit's end and needing Peeta to give her hope through that bread. But what made her go on before that? Or when Rue died? Where did that determination come from? Even if it was to give herself simple commands so she could survive one command at a time...

This spirit to survive, no matter what is alluring. It touches people because there are times when we all must push beyond our pain to find that joy for life. That's the reason why Peeta fell in love with her on sight. He saw her spirit and recognized it even if he didn't know it then.

The reason why I'm team Gale is not because he's the right person for Katniss but because of who she was when she was with him - free and ALIVE in the moment. All the romantic moments with Peeta were manufactured with strategy in mind irrespective of how she felt. Maybe she did like Peeta. But she didn't get to explore that on her own. It sullied their relationship. It also drove Gale away emotionally; their companionship - the peace in it shattered. The only honest feeling Katniss felt free to openly feel was - she didn't want Peeta to die!  She never got the freedom to express the same for the other tributes other than Rue.

Anyhow I am team Gale... because I am all for that contentment, joy and peace! Moments that cannot be manufactured. Which do not need words or explicit form of expression. Those are the moments to live for!