JUST A LITTLE SOMETHING

There's something I've blogged about before and it's something I'll probably blog about 1000 times more before I'm done... just because I think it's the most beautiful and worthwhile thing in the entire galaxy. I want to keep writing about it because I want to do it justice and talk about it in an eloquent/meaningful/succinct way. It deserves that kind of justice.

So, what am I talking about? I'm talking about something that I'm forced to contemplate a lot in writing and analyzing dramatic stories; something that I come into contact with every day by virtue of the fact that I watch Grey's Anatomy on instant netflix. Perhaps I'm making a much bigger fuss over this special something than is really necessary. Maybe I don't get out enough and I think the world is one giant movie of which we are all stars... but I don't think so. I think this something is very important.

I'm talking about a little something called "heroic sacrifice" -- the act of putting yourself aside in order to do right by another person. Yes, the notion of sacrifice is pertinent in creating a meaningful work of dramatic art, but I think it's also pertinent in creating a meaningful life.

I believe there's a great misconception floating around out there that big, HEROIC sacrifices are only for characters in stories -- characters who, through their noble/selfless actions, give us clues as to our own morality and how to survive in the world. After all, those who take big life-threatening risks - like jumping into a burning building to save young children from certain desecration - often have movies or plays made about them.

In an existence where doing larger-than-life deeds often bears larger-than-life rewards, it's easy to feel like a bit of a failure -- that in some small regard you're coming up short. If you're anything like me, you often ask yourself...

What am I doing with my life that has any impact or value?

When's the last time I got off my ass to help somebody?

What difference have I made in the world and who needs me?

You know... fundamental questions asked by everybody who has a roof over his/her head and food in his/her tummy. (When we have our basic needs met, we look further for spiritual satisfaction).

Well, what is the value of your life? When's the last time you were in Port Au Prince to build houses for impoverished families? And have you booked your flight to Sendai yet to sift through rubble and help people who've lost everything try to re-build?

Well, if you haven't-- and if you feel insufficient for not stepping up as a giving citizen of the planet, then this blog entry is for you.

Many of us agree that giving help to people in crisis is a good thing. We just don't necessarily go looking for opportunities to REALLY do it. We're scared, we're clueless. Plus it's easier to sit at home and text the Red Cross a $10 donation and quietly cry from our couches as Jennifer Hudson belts out a U2 song on some telethon. The truth is that while we have the best of intentions, many of us are NOT what Grey's Anatomy refers to as "doers," and there's a great self-disappointment that comes with that.


But this blog entry is not about what we can't, won't and have a hard time doing. This is about what we CAN do... what we DO do (so to speak).

I like to believe that for every crazed lunatic that dumps herbicide into the roots of an old tree, there's another person standing by, ready to help out, ready to plant seeds for another tree (Alabamians will get this metaphor).


And we all hear plenty of accounts of the jock who decided to risk is popularity to walk home with a put-upon nerd after school only to find out that the poor nerd had planned on killing himself that very evening. However, because the jock took a little time to talk to the nerd, he showed him that life was worth living. Just by spending some quality time with the guy, he saved his life!

Everyday there are hundreds of thousands of miniature accounts of life saving that roll by completely undetected. Sure, there's desecration and destruction and things so horrible that to know of their very existence might plague us with unshakable depression, BUT the population of the world is nearly 7 billion. I don't think ANY of us would be here for longer than a few days if it weren't for the hope and compassion shown to us at some point by somebody else.

For the accounts of ruin and despair, there are equal accounts of endurance and generosity. There are two sides to EVERY coin -- it's just that the grim side gets talked about more often.

I guess the primary reason I chose to put this rant out there is to say to you and to say to myself that it's the little gestures along with ostentatious ones that matter. Our existences mean something in the grand scheme of things. Watch It's a Wonderful Life if you're having any doubts.

Usually I'd save this message for overkill in some crappy script I'm working on, but sometimes it needs to be said plainly to people who are adrift and just working to get through the day -- which I know a lot of people are.

You do things, things that help people. For that, you're a hero. And that's something. SO PUT THAT THOUGHT IN YOUR BACK POCKET!

All right, I'll go back to my quiet little routine of being awe-inspired by Frank Capra and Grey's Anatomy now.

So, ciao.