A most wonderful film just ended…. Mr. Church… and I am basking in the emotional impact this film has to offer. I am on a SAS plane heading to Chicago from Stockholm, Sweden to join and present at the annual conference of the Aging Society of America. Usually, I do not watch movies on the plane, but spend the time working on some article or follow up of photo Lightroom edits … and sometimes I simply fall asleep. But today, something inspired me to watch this movie… maybe it was that I saw Eddie Murphy’s name in the cast. I have always loved to watch a movie where Eddie Murphy has some part, and especially when it is a drama story. His character portrayal I found, are beyond excellent. His acting carries me deep into a place of the specific character, one that is filled with complexity, emotions, insight, and most of all, warmth and presence.
The story, for those of you who have not yet seen this film, is about the richness inherited in relationships. Be it between friends, lovers, employer – employee, family, acquaintances. and all people that we come across in our daily lives. As in most stories starting … “once upon a time” … relationships have a beginning, middle, and an end. And we learn, over time, to enjoy all aspects, in the beauty of a continuous opening up to, and learning from, each other in each and every relationship that we are fortunate to encounter in this lifetime. All the pain, disappointments, broken hearts, anger, and confusion, as well as the joy, hope, beauty, and abundance we all feel. At the end of the film, I am reminded of one of the five remembrances that is said daily and quietly to themselves by Buddhist practitioners: “ Every one that you love and everything that you hold dear are of the nature to change, there is no way escape being separated from them”. Well, this may not be an exact quote, but I encourage you to see the film Mr. Church when you have the opportunity, and to keep it in your heart.
So touched to remember the quiet and the deep truths — yes — everything changes. And, yet, in some ways, the kernel of love that holds friendships doesn’t change. Yes, the kernel grows and becomes something and then grows into dying and death. But that kernel — somehow — is part of the nonchanging and changing nature.