I was really looking to seeing this movie with Will Smith, a year ago (maybe two). It had Will Smith, who always makes thoughtful movies, and it was about a man's search/relationship/struggle with love, time and death.
You know what I am thinking,
"YES, SIGN ME UP!"
Then I read various reviews that were critical and negative, and I never saw it...
Until this week on my plane ride to Peru. Again, maybe it was the universe, trying to make sure I saw it, when I could most clearly, SEE IT.
The movie, I thought, was wonderful, and the whole topic bordered on corniness... so you can;'t fault it for occasionally stepping on the wrong side of the tracks... but it was so very thoughtful and inspiring.
Without spoiling the movie for you, the main actor has a daughter that dies. On the night the girl is dying, someone says to the mom, "I'm sorry, but look out for the collateral beauty". She doesn't get it at the time, but she realizes that because of her daughter's death, beacuse of her pain... she is transformed in how she feels about the world... how she sees the world.
"The collateral beauty
is
the
profound connection
to
everything."
I couldn't hold back the tears at that point. YES! I get that... I feel that... I have no idea what losing a child feels like. But, I have felt tremendous loss in my life, some related to death... some related to life. I have felt it - and I have benefited from it...
I do feel a profound connection to everything and everyone... and I love that.
Maybe we get to see the "collateral beauty" in life only after we struggle... only after we hurt... only after we lose.
But, it is such a priceless gift... possibly the only gift that matters... the gift of connection.
Last night my family gave me and my friends visiting Peru a party. It was a beautiful and special night, and I was doing my very best at trying to take it all in. It was a perfect night - in that it was full of MY perfect people... my friends and my family.
These are special and emotional days, reflecting back into the past and projecting forward to the years to come...
So many thoughts crossing my mind...
The greatest "loss" in my life, was the day I left Peru. I feel the sadness of that day like it was yesterday... and I was thinking last night, "I left Peru 42 years ago, but my family never let me go... not in their hearts at least..."
I love the concept of "collateral beauty"... "the profound connection to everything..."
I feel it.
I am grateful for it.
And, importantly, I think people feel it back...
And, the connection with those you love grows
even stronger.
Beauty and connection exist in the space between us -
and when it does, and you feel it -
we should allow it to engulf us...
There is real beauty in connection...
or maybe
connection
and
beauty...
are really one and the same...
in harmony,
Nestor