I went to the (smart people's) movies last night to see Easy Virtue, which was billed as a Noel Coward work, and I always love his wit and pithiness, a quality which is universally underated in my experience. And I was surprised to find it full of characters who, each in their own way, were remarkably fragile. Their rigidity made them brittle as glass, cracked around the edges, and vulnerable to attack at any given moment. The mother was the character I most loathed, and then, more was revealed, and it explained everything. It would be nice if that happened more in real life, if one of those horridly annoying creatures I give wide berth in my little world were to tell me their deepest hurts, and I could have compassion for them instead of barely concealed detestation. I do not subscribe to the idea that the world should contort itself to make me comfortable. Nor do I have to contort myself to fit in to a discommodious world. I just sort of relax into most situations, with the eternal question on my lips: isn't this interesting? Then I let all reveal itself in its inevitable fashion, and move if I am not compatible with its constrictions. Happy to say I can be comfortable in a lot of varied situations. Plunk me into almost any picture, and I will be there, in the background, with an amused smile on my lips. After all, wherever I go, there I am, and I know how to laugh at myself, so I am never without a source of amusement. Flexibility, that's the key. Only took 65 years to learn that.
No comments:
Post a Comment