Let’s see if I can write this before I eat breakfast, which should be around noon. Last I told you I was going to go out and take a walk. I went into my bedroom to change into outdoor clothes, saw my bed, lay down, and took a nap. On the one hand, I needed the nap; I haven’t been sleeping well. On the other hand, I needed to get out of the house. When I woke up it was just in time to watch Alec Spiegelman at the Passim Campfire Fest. I didn’t want to miss that. There went the daylight. I did get myself out of the house after dark. I went to Popeye’s for dinner. I haven’t treated myself their spicy chicken sandwich in a while. For once ordering with the app worked as it should. I got there and my dinner was ready. I picked it up and left after spending only a minute in the store. I’m still taking COVID-19 seriously. I hope you are too.
Yesterday I posted a clip from the film Norma Rae for Labor Day. Sharon saw it and discovered the complete film was streaming on Hulu. That was enough to get me to watch it for perhaps the first time since I saw it in a theater. I’m so happy I did. It was a great film. Sally Field deserved her Academy Award for her performance. The film raised issues of not just labor, but race, sexism, and anti-Semitism . I forgot how Jewish the film was, Ron Liebman’s character, a New York Jew, gave an education to Norma Rae on Jewish culture. She had never met a Jew before.
“You look like everybody else; what’s the difference?”
“History.”
Something that I loved is their relationship remains platonic. It’s so rare for a film to show a relationship between a man and a woman that doesn’t become romantic. While there is unspoken sexual tension but that’s it. They not only don’t kiss, they don’t even hug. The majority of the film is scenes between those two characters, but they grew to be friends, but no more. He has a girlfriend, and she has a husband. Oddly, Beau Bridges who played the husband was billed before Liebman despite having a far less central role. I had forgotten he was in the film. Bridges must have been bigger box office then. I knew Liebman mainly from television work.
I finally figured out how to write about personal psych issue that’s been difficult to address in my blog. I talk about it all the time in therapy but that’s different. It’s not quite anxiety or depression. I don’t want to discuss the details in public. I came up with the perfect analogy. I feel like Wile E. Coyote. As Chuck Jones, the Roadrunner’s creator knew, we were all closer to being the coyote than Bugs Bunny. He’s this totally unattractive character but he’s the one we identify with, not the roadrunner. I’ve gone through similar situations in the past and they resulted in spiraling into depression. What therapy has taught me is not obsess on the roadrunner. I can still want it. I can still try to catch it. But I have to live the rest of my life while I do it. The way I used to deal with it is think about the roadrunner, how unfair the entire situation is, how painful the situation in, and fall down the rabbit hole of self-pity. I don’t let myself do that now. I stop as soon as I catch myself. Last night I redirected it into coming up with the coyote analogy. I’ve used that before openly with someone that unsuccessfully chased romantically. That was different, I accepted the platonic relationship, and she was the person I told about comparing myself to the coyote. There’s nothing wrong with chasing a dream, a roadrunner, or a white whale. O that a man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what’s a heaven for? Just don’t let it devour you. I’m glad I learned that.
Wise Madness 