Vaclav and Kamila Benda were Czech activists that raised a family under the Communist dictatorship of the USSR. There were a number of incredibly impressive things that they accomplished, but the one I find most important is that they raised children that followed God in an incredibly hostile environment.

Vaclav wrote on the importance of developing a Parallel Polis (alternative culture) when living in an environment hostile to your faith. That is what he and his wife did for their family. They taught them that being strange to your neighbors was normal. That refusing to go along with lies and double-speak was basic morality, no matter what was going on. Their children watched as their father was stripped of his doctoral degree, removed from his post as a professor, harassed by the authorities, and forced to work a series of small jobs to make ends meet for his family. Vaclave would then come home and run a secret university out of his basement.

When his children talk about what it was like to be raised in that environment, they tell stories about watching movies with their dad and then discussing the movies. In fact, Vaclav would host viewing parties of movies that involved discussions afterwards. Their favorite movie was High Noon. The lonely sheriff, bound to do the right thing even when he was the only one willing to stand, reminded them of their father. They also tell stories of the hours they would spend listening to their mother read them books. The Lord of the Rings was their go-to evening read.

The Parallel Polis that was their home was built, sustained, and defended with stories. It inoculated the imaginations of their children, and eventually their grandchildren, against the virus of “The Great Lie” required by communism and totalitarianism. It opened their imaginations and desires to want freedom while living under the shadow of the Union of Sauron’s Socialist Republic  The Iron Curtain would eventually come down in history, but the westerns playing on their father’s silver screen had already brought it down in their imaginations.

At Loor.tv, we are working to build a funding and distribution platform that serves all of the Parallel Polis’ looking for stories to reinforce their resistance to the current hostile environment. If you are an accredited investor looking to invest, I hope you are not too late. We are finishing out our SAFE round any day now. Contact us soon before the opportunity is past.

And if you are a creator who wants to tell the stories that build, sustain, and defend the imaginations of a generation, get in touch. Our mission is to help you do that