Today, as I lay couch-ridden and stuffy-nosed, I viewed a film called Eat, Pray, Love. This show has been on the TV listings countless and repetitive times, and I really cannot remember what it was that stopped be from watching it at each given opportunity. Maybe its consistent appearance was a sign telling me to watch it because someone, somewhere knew the effect it would have on me. Maybe now that I've actually sat through the whole movie, it'll never appear on television again. Who knows?
Actually, those last two words pretty much summarize the entire movie. I'm not sure if you've ever seen it, and if you haven't, I'm only going to include the basic details as to spare you the pain of having this wonderful movie's plot and ideas spoiled. Basically, An unhappy woman travels to three different destinations over the course of a year and rediscovers herself. I understand that that may sound a bit cliché, but I assure you, the film in it's entirety is not.
Travel has always sparked a sort of curiosity inside of me and I've grown to understand that it can have an effect on the person you (think you) are, so just the fact that three very beautiful and interesting destinations were featured in the film fuelled my desire to watch it enough, let alone the entire idea the movie was meant to portray. Many notable quotes aside, this movie really did leave me wondering what I was doing with my life. If I want something, I should go for it. If I love someone, I should tell them. If I have the opportunity to help another, I should do all I can to make a change. If I'm tired of the life I'm living right now, there are so many ways I can change it. And, like I said, who knows?! Who knows what will happen? Most likely, the end result will always be better than what I entered the situation with.
I was also reminded of all my friends and acquaintances. The other day I was sitting in class watching everyone else in the room not to be creepy, but just to observe. I watched their faces, they way their mouthes moved and their eyes displayed emotion when they spoke, they way they looked when they thought they weren't being seen. Reality hit me like a brick: All these people, all their lives, how much they've grown and changed and lived and felt and learned and remembered and forgotten. How beautiful they all are. Looking at their faces, I realized that all those people had lived their lives in just the right way for them to enter and alter mine and many others. They all made the choices to get here, to be alive in this very spot. Maybe some are happy, and maybe some aren't, but I hope they all remember they have the power to change their lives in so many ways, and that that power can be used whenever they feel like it.
At any time things can change. So: Who knows? That's what this movie taught me. I acknowledge the fact that there were other and deeper meanings to the movie, but this was the thought that stuck with me the most when the credits began to roll.
I write this mostly as a reminder to myself to (read the book and) remember that message. The message of Who Knows. Because really, who does?
