Sunday, September 6, 2009

Death, Dumbledoore, and the Stage of Life

I just got back from taking Sara to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, excellent movie by the way, very well done, acting on the main character's parts leaves a little to be desired, but excellent performances by the others, perfect Horace Slughorn, the cinematography is beautiful, more than just great angles, the color and lighting is eye candy I love being an artist and looking at things from a very visual perspective. But that is not why I am writing, I had a though as I watched Dumbledoore die, and I wanted to type it out.

As we go through life there are a great many people who come in and out of our own life. I suppose our lives are each like a stage, we are always on our own stage, and other people drift on and off at various intervals, some leave and come back making many appearances. Each person who enters our stage, no matter how briefly, influences us in some small or large way, for good or bad, and we are the sum of our life experiences (what is played out on our stage) and the relationships with the actors on our stage. We sometimes we can choose who is on the stage, and other times we are forced into relationships with people, good or bad, but no matter the situation, we can choose whether to let that influence become a part of who we are, or to discard it, ultimately we are the masters of who we become.

I watched Dumbledoore hit with the killing curse by Snape, then fall off the tower to the courtyard below, and the thought occurred to me that Dumbledoore was now taking a permanent step off of the stage of Harry Potter. Then a step further, his own stage had just closed curtains, at least on this mortal existence. I realized that in my own life, my time on this earth is finite, I only have so many years to live, and so does everyone else, whether our lives rub against one anothers or not we all get on this earth and step off, and while I can have some influence in someone's life, for good or bad, I am ultimately only have control of my own life and the choices I make. My children, my wife, my mom, dad, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends, work associates, all have their own lives to live. The best I can do is to make sure that mine is a positive influence for whatever duration I am on their stages performing.

I can control the part I play on their stage, but I cannot control what they do with it.

We are each the sum of all of the parts being acted out on our own stages, let's make the most of each and every day, and work hard to act the good part.

Jeff