Lessons from Shared Loves

I'm doing The Artist's Way program with a few online friends.  I've owned the book for years and read it, but have never really done all the work.  One of the activities asked me to identify a favorite childhood movie.  I couldn't really think of any movies from my childhood, but 3 from my early teens came to mind:  Yentl, Enemy Mine, and Star Trek 2:  The Wrath of Khan.  Once again, I was reminded how much these movies and their themes have shaped my life.  A love of science fiction is one of the things that my dad and I share.  Music and Barbra Streisand are the connections with my mother.  

I've written before about what Star Trek taught me (You can read some of that here and here and here.) Enemy Mine was a box office failure, costing millions more to make than it actually earned.  I don't think I saw it in the theatre.  We probably rented the VHS (and the machine to watch it on).  The trailer looks cheesy (it was sci-fi in the 80's), but this movie had a huge impact on my life.  Bitter enemies are forced to depend on each other.  They learn to understand and trust each other.  And one puts his life on the line to keep a promise he made about a child of the enemy that he has grown to love.  It reinforced every beautiful lesson I'd learned from my parents about seeing people for who they really are and keeping promises.

Yentl is a beautiful story about a woman who refuses to be limited by her culture and tradition.  It's Streisand singing the songs of Alan and Marilyn Bergman and Michel Legrand.

This morning, I'm sitting here crying as I listened to these words that seem written just for me and just for this moment.

And tell me where, where is it written what it is
I'm meant to be, that I can't dare-
To find the meanings in the mornings that I see,
Or have my share of every sweet-imagined possibility?

I remember everything you taught me
Every book 1've ever read...
Can all the words in all the books
Help me to face what lies ahead?

I can open doors and take from the shelves
All the books I’ve longed to hold
I can ask all the questions,
The whys and the wheres
As the mysteries of life unfold
Like a link in a chain
From the past to the future
That joins me with the children yet to be,
I can now be a part
Of the ongoing stream,
That has always been a part of me!

The more I live - the more I learn.
The more I learn - the more I realize
The less I know.
Each step I take -
(Papa, I've a voice now!)Each page I turn -
(Papa, I've a choice now!)Each mile I travel only means
The more I have to go.
What's wrong with wanting more?
If you can fly - then soar!
With all there is - why settle for
just a piece of sky?

I don't expect people to understand the growth process I'm going through right now or the choices I'm making related to it.  But I do want people to understand that it is beautiful and soul-stretching.  I feel more spiritually alive than I can remember ever feeling.  This is not stepping away from the teachings of my youth.  It's stepping into them and living them fully, with integrity,  and without apology.

My mother also introduced me to the work of this wonderful woman.  Don't just read the excerpt.  Listen to the poet speak her own words.

I face the plains
On a good day for walking.
The sun rises
And the mist clears.
I will be all right:
My people were Mormon pioneers.