Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2008 after Mattie's first limb salvaging surgery. That week someone gave Mattie a book entitled, "Stinky Cheese Man." Mattie thought that was down right hysterical! So much so, that it inspired him to create his own stinky cheese man made out of blue foam! It is ironic that last week as I was cleaning out Mattie's book shelves, to donate hundreds of books, I came across "Stinky Cheese Man." It brought me right back to this moment in time.
Quote of the day: The healing power of even the most microscopic exchange with someone who knows in a flash precisely what you're talking about because she experienced that thing too cannot be overestimated. ~ Cheryl Strayed
This afternoon my parents and I went to see the play Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I have to admit I never read the novella or even saw the movie with Spencer Tracy. Naturally whether one is familiar with the story or not, in some shape or form, we have all used the term...... Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in our daily lexicon. Especially when we are dealing with people who appear to have two sides to them. This play is all about good versus evil and the conflict this causes inside of us. Yet from my clinical perspective this play is far more complex than this, mainly because the alter ego of our main character, Dr. Jekyll, is drug induced. As if this drug unleashed what could be potentially inside of all of us. A frightening notion really when you consider the main character brutally attacked and killed multiple people in gruesome ways. Are we all really capable of this? If that isn't frightening enough to think about, what is even more perplexing is once Dr. Jekyll stopped using drugs why didn't the evil die away? Needless to say the premise of this play bothered me intensely because what it was trying to imply is that evil is stronger than goodness and will win out every time.
Certainly in our daily lives we see aspects of evil all around us, and yet despite the evil, there are also moments of greatness, kindness, and compassion to help combat this negativity. I believe this is a philosophical difference in how each of us sees the world which is most likely why I gravitate to Disney and Hallmark movies. Goodness must always trump evil! Naturally I know this isn't true in reality, but if we do not have this hope then I frankly think day to day existence becomes impossible.
This play was well acted but I have to say it was confusing at first. Mainly because the character of Mr. Hyde was acted out by every member of the cast. So you would see Dr. Jekyll transform, but instead of that character resuming as Mr. Hyde, another member of the cast would take over. So literally every cast member played two or three different roles in the play. With NO costume or set changes and no intermissions. So you have to really pay attention because the actors are constantly switching parts!
We all left the play feeling DOWN about life and human nature. I am not saying this is not a fact of life depicted in the play, but sometimes seeing it acted out in front of me isn't helpful. After Mattie died I prefer more uplifting stories and stories which inspire you to life not question why you are living. This evening we are meeting a friend and colleague of my dad's who lives in London. We saw John recently in August when we flew to Heathrow. So it is very unusual for me to be seeing him again so soon. Needless to say it is my hope that dinner is a change of pace from the macabre and gruesome of today's play.
No comments:
Post a Comment