FOOD FOR THE JOURNEY
I know, I haven’t written one of these in a VERY long time! See, here’s the thing…. I have to write something
that impacts me enough to want to put my thoughts on the proverbial paper. Plus I have to get over a whole lot of other
issues inside of me – basically I have to write something that I need to write. That keeps me from thinking that it’s about
you, and what you, dear reader, might or might not think about what I
write. I write because I feel the need
to get this out.
I can’t help but notice that a lot of life has gone under the bridge
since last I’d written one of these “Food For The Journey” stories. A year and nine months actually. A lot has happened. And a lot of what’s happened is still fresh
on my mind – or more accurately, my heart.
My kids are growing up, my mother died last
November, and a few others have died as well.
My wife and I are moving into another phase of life (man, “phase of life”
sure sounds cliché doesn’t it?) But the
thing is, it’s true. Life does have
phases. It changes, and our hearts and
minds, and bodies change with it. I’m not usually depressed, but it’s not that
hard for me to slip into a melancholia; a time of remembering things, and
people, and life. Not a sappy
melancholia, but one that revives old memories – and the feelings that come as
a result seem to be amplified in a way… or maybe I’m “remembering” them not
with the feelings of “back then”, but maybe I’m adding some seasoning from my
life thus far into the memories. So these
memories come out with a different flavor than what the same memories might
have had when I first experienced the events “back then”.
I say all this because I just finished watching the movie “Forrest
Gump”. What a classic movie. And I say classic because it has a longevity
- it can speak to the deeper issues of
life, no matter when you see the movie.
This movie touches on a whole lot of life issues. I saw it back when it first came out in
1994. I was 28 years old. I’d been married five years at that point, with
no kids yet. We’d just moved to the Metro
DC area. I was still in the Military,
and working an Intel/Linguist job with a federal contractor. I was one year away from starting Seminary
full time. 28 years old. Seems like so long ago actually. I look back on that time… man, who was that
kid? And I saw “Forrest Gump”.
For a simple character, he sure does go through a whole array of
life-stuff. The movie more than touches
on what it means to be fully human; on what it means to love – in a most
complete way. It touches on what it
means to give one-self wholly. As a
runner, I sure know what it means to be in that place where your body is doing
one thing, and your spirit is doing another… and your brain is pretty much
taking a vacation. You just run… and
things sort of sort themselves out as they need to sort themselves out. Forrest is right – when you need to run, you
run. And when you need to stop, you
stop.
The movie is about love.
But not just about loving a partner, a mate, but a friend too. I do think Gump loved his friend Bubba. And he for sure loved and respected Lieutenant
Dan. And the whole story with LT. Dan
is its own story – the story of needing to make peace with one’s creator, and with
life. And of course Jenny had her own
issue to work through. Wrap all that up
in movie and you sure do have a story about life- in all its facets and
challenges and ups and downs!
It’s a story about a boy that becomes a man. And what makes him a man? Any man with any depth will ask themselves
this question too – on more than one occasion, and in more than one way. And he’s sort of always a boy though
too. And then he becomes a father – you
can just hear the record skip at that point in the movie when Jenny tells him
the little boy he just met is his son.
It wasn’t like that in my life… but being a daddy sure did make things
different- right from the get-go!
There sure is a lot of loneliness in that movie. There’s a lot of struggling and fighting, and
there’s a lot of redemption. And pain
of loss, and peace. And now I’m closer
to fifty than forty. And I can relate
to all that much more than when I was 28.
It was a good movie at 28. At 47, well, it’s a down right classic!
If you knew that the society you live in was going to change
drastically, and you could save some movies – as representations and examples
of “art”, of life, what movies would you save?
Would “Forrest Gump” be one? I
think it would be for me. I ask this
question because I know a guy who has a whole lot of movies in his place. But
they’re not the classics, the kind of movies that won Oscars, or the ones that
seem to be ones known for their deeper message of life. He has mostly movies that are what most
people would call “B” movies. They’re
not the mainstream movies. Some of them
aren’t bad… but some are! “Dude, you spent money on these? For real!”
So I asked him, “Why did you buy these movies?”, and his answer was interesting.
He bought all those movies (many shelves full) because he
believes that they are still art, and if things were to end – if somehow things
were lost, then these movies would be lost forever. In my humble opinion, some should be lost
forever. But, to him they still represent
art – however the quality or importance to the greater society, to him they are
still art, and deserve a place of remembrance.
He doesn’t like the idea that these movies might at some point be forgotten.
But they’re pretty ordinary movies. He doesn’t have any of what we might call classic
movies. Not a “Moby Dick” to be
found. Certainly no “Citizen Kane”, or “Stage Coach”. I can think of some pretty powerful movies
that had a deep message about what life is, and can be; there’s “Beyond Rangoon”,
“Gandhi”, “Romero”. Some might include “The
Shawshank Redemption”, or “The Green Mile”.
There certainly are more we could all agree are movies that speak to a
deeper part of life. I think he has “Fargo”,
but that’s about where the list of classics stops.
If you could save a movie… which one would it be? A
classic (like Forrest Gump”)? Or an ordinary “B” movie? I would have always gone for the
Classics! But I can sure see his point
about life. There are those moments
that aren’t “up-on-the-scale-of-importance”, “freeze-them-on-film-forever”,
sort of moments. In fact, I’d probably
guess that most of our moments aren’t “classic” moments. Most of our moments are pretty ordinary I’d
say… with ordinary events, and ordinary exchanges, and ordinary dialogue. Ordinary.
Dare I say… mundane.
And yet I wonder what we’d all give for an “ordinary” moment
with those people we don’t have anymore.
Or what would we give to go back
to experience an “ordinary” moment from back then, with the knowledge about
life we have now. I bet you’d do some
things differently, or say some things differently. Or at the very least treasure them more than
you probably did back then.
Ordinary moments… the “B” movie of our lives. This isn’t to say that those “big” moments
aren’t important… you know – the weddings, and the births, and the celebrations,
and the milestones, and rites of passage that life certainly has. But I have to wonder if my friend isn’t on
to something. Certainly “Forrest Gump”
was a great movie. It touches me more
and more as I get older. There’s layers
of life, and depth that reveal themselves every time I see the movie. There’s something that resonates with me
deeper every time I see it. But perhaps
what makes it great, to me, is that the movie is filled with ordinary moments
imbued with pretty extraordinary significance.
You have to admit that Forrest Gump doesn’t have very elaborate
dialogue. Exhibit 1: “What is your mission in life Gump?” “To do everything you say, drill Sergeant!” Exhibit 2:
“Your mama sure does care about your education, son!” Exhibit
3: “Run, Forrest, run” I rest my case, your honor.
But you put all that dialogue together, and it’s the ordinariness
that makes it memorable. Ordinary…
becomes extraordinary!
Sorta like life… if we
can see it that way.
God bless
Pr. C-
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