I have to admit that I am a sucker for “tear jerking” movies. I like it when the underdog wins. The boy (or girl) must always realize his (or her) dream in the end.
One of my favorite movies is the Electric Horseman. As you know, it is about a burned out rodeo champion, a news reporter (Jane Fonda) and a magnificent stallion horse. The whole story is about returning the horse to the wild. Robert Redford gives the horse a few instructions and releases a $10 million stallion into the hills of Wyoming (?). The horse returning to “freedom” combined with the Willie Nelson background music does choke me up a little.
In our boredom last week, your Mom brought out a stack of DVD’s and sorted through the pile. We found “Patch Adams” with Robin Williams as an aspiring young doctor. Amazingly, the DVD was still in the original cellophane. We bought the DVD never opened it.
Patch Adams portrays a brilliant (almost genius) young doctor struggling to find a purpose in life. While attending medical school he gets to spend time at the university hospital. The hospital is filled with patients with desperate health issues including terminal cases. The whole movie is about individual respect. As Patch makes daily “rounds”, instructors keep referring to “a patient in Ward 5” or “bed number 64”. The first thing Robin Williams does is start asking patients their name. Of course he realizes each patient brings a personal a story to the hospital and each patient deserves to be treated with dignity. The whole Patch Adams movie is about personal humanity. The movie is filled with humor and many emotional situations. So I had chances to choke up. Patch loses his fantastic girlfriend when she is shot by a “nut case”. Tears! Patch finally bonds with a beligerent terminal cancer case by doing a humorous routine. More Tears. A terminal patient gets her dream bath in a tub of squishy noodles. It that doesn’t choke you up, nothing will.
The lesson Grasshoppers is that everyone in life is important. We all have names. We all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
Love,
Dad