Diamonds in the Garbage

I love movies, the advent of DVD’s has scratched an itch that is nigh unto habitual. Even TV shows are on DVD and now I can watch a group of episodes of my favorites without commercial interruption and with the ability to grab a soda from the fridge or hit the restroom without missing a single laugh line. My collection rises and falls upon different interests from scary to funny to … well, strange. Some movies grab my fancy simply by the action in them even though the storyline is non-existent. Some stories grab me and the special effects only enhance the characters. Some are just plain funny.

A new movie in the “action with lame story” genre came out recently and I bought it for the action, and due to the fact that it was a classic, scary, science fiction mode that grabs my imagination. In the middle of all the action there was a moment that snared me by the heart. The heroine was trying to convince a sick man to not go on this dangerous adventure and she used a story about her own father. She said her father was hurt while climbing a mountain and she wanted to turn around and take him back to base camp. He said that he could go on and against her better judgment she took him to the top. They opened a bottle of champagne at the top, drank a toast, and then headed back down again. On the way down his injury formed a blood clot and in extreme pain he died close to the base camp. She has never forgiven herself for putting her father through that extreme pain. The sick man smiled at her story and asked her, “Do you think your father remembered the pain as he died or was his last memory one of having champagne with his daughter on the top of a mountain?” It was a diamond of dialogue in a pile of action/adventure garbage.

I had lunch with a good friend today whose father had just passed. His focus was not on the things missed or on the pain, but his focus was on the joy and the good times they had with each other. He found the diamond in the garbage of sorrow.

NOW is the time to create those diamonds. NOW! Don’t hesitate to go to visit family, don’t forget that phone call or card. Don’t put off that visit any longer. Take a moment, suck in your pride and your insecurity, and tell the people you love that you love them. Those are the diamonds that you will find hidden in the garbage that sometimes tries to bury us. Those are the smiles that come to you when the sorrow is trying to overtake you. Don’t wait, do it NOW!

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