About a week ago my Facebook status read "Rav Jennifer Elkin Gorman is world weary and wondering if the world is effecting her." It's hard to watch what is happening around the world and not wonder if we are not going to hell in a handbasket.* Earthquakes, tsnamis, and radiation, wildfires, civil war, and hate, and now a deadly cobra is missing at the Bronx Zoo.
But seriously, I read the news and my heart hurts for those in the line of fire, whether from radiation, fire, or bullets. I find that I am at a loss for words. Two things keep me going (get ready for a strange combination)- faith and cheesy movies. As the world descends into disaster I know that things will get better. I pray that it will happen sooner rather than later, but I know, with perfect faith, that it will come.
Still, I need something to get me through the day. For a while (when we first heard Sean was supposed to go to Afghanistan) it was food, but once I realized what I was doing I realized also the extreme folly in that approach. Enter cheesy, sappy movies. Almost every day I find something. I can watch a movie dozens of times. I watch characters' expressions, noticing a slight smile, how someone's eyes move, an extra or supporting character walking in the background. I lose myself in romance and comedy, letting tears I don't shed for the world brim up in my eyes.
Last week was the BBC miniseries of "Pride and Prejudice". I know Colin Firth's every mannerism. I can see the moment Darcy falls for Elizabeth. This week it was "Eat, Pray, Love". Javier Bardem is wonderful. The patience of his Felipe when rejected by Liz, played by Julia Roberts, is heart-breaking.
Tonight Sean & I are watching "Hope Floats" Sean chose it over "The Big Bang Theory". Why? "It has a happy ending." Hearts get broken; scab over, and break again, but in the end we have hope. As Harry Connick Jr. carries Sandra Bullock off in the last scene we know they will live happily ever after. It may not always be smooth, but it will be good. They will live and love, and be forever happy in the end.
Thank you for Hollywood, for romance, and for happily ever after. It's amazingly healing in a difficult world.
*Now that I used this phrase, I must add that it is a completely bizarre phrase that makes little sense but has nice alliteration. Check out http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-goi1.htm for more information.
