John Steinbeck continues to be a favorite author of mine. I wasn’t much of a reader as a kid though had a reading list I was required to complete before attending my new school in 9th grade. That was a great summer. One of my first books from the list was Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. I loved it. Years later in college, studying theatre, I was cast in the theatrical version of the book. (More about Of Mice and Men).
I felt the complexity of the love between slow witted Lennie and his guardian, George. I’m all for the underdog and my heart related to the angst and complexity of choices presented to Lennie’s champion, George.
I spend a lot of my weekend time at the computer tip tapping away at one project or another, it’s my ‘down time’. With movies muted in the background, I click on the volume at only the best parts. Steinbeck’s 1939 version of Of Mice and Men was on today as torrents of rain fell outside the tall A-frame windows of my snug, hideaway house.
This, Steinbeck’s first novel put to the screen by Lewis Milestone, (to be followed by many others, Grapes of Wrath, another favorite, the following year), I happened upon the final seen where Burgess Meredith, (playing George) is about to seal Lennie’s fate, with compassion and grace, (Lennie played beautifully by Lon Chaney, Jr.).
We are all presented with decisions within our lives which give us pause. I am this week considering how to allow the slings and arrows of my own judgements and interpretations of things, (particularly to myself), and certainly those of others toward me, just pass through to hit the wall behind me.
With that, I am considering how I might take the variety of issues I wrangle with and create three columns, as my friend 2Lu suggests. What do I want, what am I willing to accept with that issue, and what is non-negotiable. NOTHING is black and white, not even black, nor white….our world’s are influenced by our upbringing, our environment our DNA and energetic imprint. This I feel is true.
How to keep ‘things’ less personal though to remain engaged, when we choose and, full of heart.
Life is a negotiation. And, I continue to believe, a celebration with the right mindset.
Some days I have that mindset and well…..at other times a good movie fills the bill.
A classic ending.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTr-Z1ZOmQE&hl=en&fs=1&]
BB Webb