I look forward to finishing this particular conversation with a friend of mine soon. Let me tell you where the whole thing started. "City of Angels" is on the TV and I decided I would torture myself and watch it. I haven't seen that movie since the first and only time I watched it when it was released. I was so pissed at the ending, that I swore I'd never watch it again. Why couldn't it have ended with them being together? Really, why not? Perfect feel good ending, fairy tale, everyone walks out of the theater feeling hopeful & encouraged. A truck? Seriously? I think that ending was just a mean plot by the writers to make sure that emotional fall was as far and as hard as it could be. I think they are laughing like giggly little vicious schoolgirls who do stuff just for the sake of causing others anguish.
Now, my friend insists that it had to end that way. I'm really looking forward to the explanation, and will be sure to update you after he gives me his take on it. Was his fall from grace too high of a price to pay for love? Does that price represent the price we pay, and the personal sacrifices we all must make for love? If we pay these huge tolls, then don't we earn the happiness? Why couldn't they have the happiness, they paid the price, they did what was right, she didn't marry the man she didn't love... no I do not understand why she had to get hit by a truck. I do not understand why there is the added little kick while we're down that he can never go back, and that he gave up his eternity, so they remain separate. Yep, even after all these years, it still chaps my ass.
I believe in the happy ever after. I think we all deserve it. I think we can all choose to have it, if we find a partner who wants to take the same road to the same goals. Maybe that's naive, maybe I'm just an unrealistic dreamer, but I really do believe it. I want the happily ever after, and I absolutely expect that I will have it. It won't be easy, or without bumps, detours & falling boulders, but I do believe that we must keep movin' on down the road.
What do you think? Do you think that the positives in our lives must come with an equal negative? Is that absolute balance really needed? I don't know, but I'd like to think not. Points to ponder, and I'll write more after my conversation.
Now... onto other things. I'm on a girls vacation in Myrtle Beach, having a blast (letting my liver get a bit of a break at the moment while my partners in crime are out for the afternoon). Anyway, I've been compelled to do some writing, and also have been reading some poetry. I have written about other people and often wonder if they KNOW its about them. I don't really know what it would be like to have someone write their poems and songs about me. Would anyone even bother? I'm not all that interesting, and would I recognize it even if they did. Probably not, because I don't see myself as a worthy topic. I wouldn't be looking for it, and would automatically assume it was about someone else, no matter how obvious. That and wouldn't I feel like a moron if I thought it was about me and it wasn't :) So I wonder, do my subjects even know? Do they wonder then dismiss, should I fess up and tell them? I don't know. Would I want to know if someone wrote a painful song about me... or just the good stuff? How would one handle knowing that they caused enough emotion in someone else that they would put it on paper in poetry or song. How would I handle it? How would you handle it?
People in our lives have the power to knock us off our feet, break our hearts, make our hearts soar, and I think it would be amazing to be the subject of such beautiful words, even if they are somewhat sad or painful. It's what we are supposed to do, we are emotional beings, we are supposed to bring out these strong feelings in one another. It's a power to be wielded carefully, or is it? Maybe we should ride the ride full throttle, let the light burn as bright as possible, let those emotions take us over even IF there's a price to pay. I'm not sure, I guess I'll just have to think more on it.
My take on the end of "City of Angels" is it demonstrates how their love was so strong, so profound, that even the short time they spent together was worth everything he gave up. The message unfortunately doesn't come across if they spend a whole, long lifetime together.
ReplyDeleteI'm with your friend, it had to end that way.
ReplyDeleteThe rose we crave hardest is the one that we grip so firmly that the thorns cut deepest and the sorrow drips bright red from our hearts.
Just a thought.
Thought I'd come back to this discussion and mention something that happened to me today, for what it's worth.
ReplyDeleteI've been watching miniseries, The Pacific over the past few days. Tonight was episode 8.
This episode followed John Bassilone, a 1st Marine gunnery sergeant and CMH recipient for heroism during battle at Guadalcanal. Sgt Bassilone had been shipped stateside to help sell war bonds, and after a year of that duty was chafing to get back in. So he requested a transfer to a training billet at Camp Pendleton.
While at Pendleton he met Lena, a sergeant in the women's Marines who worked in the camp mess. Although Lena was cold towards Bassilone at first, eventually they fell in love. Meanwhile Bassilone's enlistment came up so he re-upped. Upon telling Lena that he had decided to ship out with his squad, they got married.
You know where this is going.
Two weeks after they married, he got sent to Iwo Jima.
On D-Day for the landing on that blackened island, he became one of the tens of thousands of Marines who bled black ground red.
And Lena became a widow.
Those of us who will live long on this earth can only dream of being the kind of person that John Bassilone was.
It had to end that way. He was too bright for this world and they loved each other too deeply.
I am reminded of these words:
"But, seeing that callow starlight look in your eye, I shall point my finger.
And in that same direction ye shall find the way.
It will be for ye to decide whether it be an entrance, or, an Exit.
Now go, fare the well"