The movie “Uncommon Valor” sits nestled in my heart next to memories of home, and love, and family. When I hear the actors talking through the television, I feel like my own brothers, uncles and cousins have entered the room. I know their facial expressions, I understand their personalities, and I can recite the dialogue. I have also never, not once, managed to not cry at the end. If you’d like a dose of humility, patriotism, loyalty and brotherhood, rent it.
But have those tissues ready.
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
It just happened to be on this past weekend, and I was able to watch part of it with my son. There is a scene where Wilkes needs to crawl into a narrow pipe, and Blaster gives him his medallion, telling him it’ll keep him safe. While in the pipe, Wilkes gets bitten by a huge snake, but manages to wrestle it and kill it. Bleeding and terrified, Wilkes throws the snake out of the pipe. Blaster looks at it, and yells into Wilkes:
“Don’t worry, it’s not poisonous. Told you my medallion was good luck!”
That’s life, isn’t it? You’re tired and worn, terrified and unsure, maybe bloody, beaten and battered, and there’s always some fool in your life coming at you with a version of Blaster’s line:
Could have been worse.
You should count yourself lucky.
Look at the bright side of the situation.
It’s a blessing in disguise.
(Next week, next month, next year, ten years from now) you’ll look back and realize it was all for the best.
I’m that fool in your life.
We’ve all been Wilkes in that pipe, counting his lucky stars to just be alive. I recently read a story about a woman who got in a car accident. Her car was totaled, her legs were crushed, but she told the interviewer it was the best thing that could have ever happened to her.
How can that be?
Because when the x-rays came back, it showed a tumor in her spine, that was operable. If she had never gotten in the accident, the tumor would never have been detected, and might have metastasized.
Michael Singer author of The Untethered Soul is a huge proponent of the belief that no matter how bad we think our lives are, there is something to be grateful for. He once spoke to a woman who was in the depths of despair over her son. A drug addict, he had committed armed robbery, and was incarcerated. She was inconsolable.
“How can you tell me that I should be grateful that my son is locked in a jail cell? How can I find the good in that?”
Singer looked at her.
“Does he get fed?”
She looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Is he warm?”
“Yes.”
“Can he read? Exercise? Go outside?”
“Yes.”
“Is he now safe from the streets, from violence, from freezing cold, from drug dealers, from sexual perverts?”
“Yes.”
“Then you should be grateful for at least that.”
Rent “Uncommon Valor,” and enjoy it with your family. You won’t regret it. I couldn’t find the snake scene, but embedded here is Sailor (Randall “Tex” Cobb) dancing free, with joy and abandon.
Here’s wishing you joy and abandon this weekend.