Monday, February 04, 2008

There's A Doctor (The Who's Tommy)

I've been going to the movies a lot lately. I've been seeing amazingly depressing films with slightly uplifting ending moments. I haven't been seeing these depressing flicks on purpose. Laura Linney and Phillip Seymore Hoffman are enough to get me to go see The Savages. I was walking by the Cumberland when I saw that Starting Out In The Evening was playing and thought "What's this? I'll find out now." I had wanted to see Lars And The Real Girl for some time, not realizing how heavy it was. I love french films, so why wouldn't I see The Divine Bell And The Butterfly?

All these movies had something in common. All their main characters were either dying, sick, in need of medical attention, whether mental or physical, or they had to deal with someone close to them going through it. All these movies I watched in the span of less than a month. I saw the last one tonight and really starting thinking about all these themes and how sad all these characters are and how I should help them. What? Did I just say I should help them. I was totally thinking tonight that I'd like to become a nurse or I should volunteer at a hospital or do something to help the sick or dying, to make them feel special in their last moments, and maybe give them something to live for. It must be impossibly difficult to go on with your day while someone close to you is slipping away, and usually alone. I can't possibly imagine what it would be like to be the one in need. I really think that if I had the will to learn, I could go back to school and become a nurse and work in geriatrics or something. Unfortunately I'm just not cut out for that. Yet it seems like a much more important job that performing. Then again, I am a doctor of the soul.