The Frustrating Inability To Not Care

On This Day In History
1963: Gloria Steinhem publishes part one of A Bunny's Tale in SHOW Magazine

Quote Of The Day
"A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle."
(Gloria Steinhem)

And a man without a woman (or a man) becomes a whale.

I went to see The Whale today. It was as heart-wrenching as I expected it to be, but in nothing like the way I expected it to be.

SPOILER ALERT - Do not read on if you are planning to watch this film.

I expected to cry several times during this film, feeling sympathy for this poor overweight man reaching out to his daughter. However, I did not cry at all. Most of my sympathy went instead to Liz, the nurse who works so hard to save this man who seems determined to kill himself. I also felt a certain amount of sympathy for his awful daughter; she certainly had reason to be embittered given the way she had been treated by both her parents. Is she evil, as her mother claimed? No. But she certainly isn't "amazing" and "beautiful," as Charlie claims, either. I find it hard to believe that she was trying to help Thomas; surely she just wanted to get him in trouble.

For me, the most important line of the film was when Charlie said, "I believe that people are incapable of not caring." Apart from psychopaths, I believe he's right. And lucky for Charlie, because no matter how frustrating he is, no matter how disgusting he is - and he is disgusting - and no matter how many times the people in his life tell them how much they hate him, they keep on coming back to help him. 

I know there have been people in my life that I really wish I did not care about. People who I have claimed I did not care about. But, despite trying desperately not to care, I did care. And when we pretend not to care, we hurt ourselves as much as the person we wish we could hate. The same is true of Charlie; as much as I was angered by his selfish, destructive nature, I did still care about him and hoped that he would be able to get his life back on track. That's not meant to be a self-righteous statement; I believe it is simply inherently human.

I wonder if you (will) feel the same?

"I wouldn't sacrifice anything at all to love." (Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Dave.)
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