Life as Poetry

My Life as a Story:

            I think that my life would definitely be an interesting story. More so than any peculiar facets for my own life, I think that life in general is necessarily a story. Everyone experiences emotions, victories and failures, mistakes and success. I have no doubt that any person’s life can be turned into a compelling narrative. I believe that the question is whether the person crafting this narrative is effective at their craft. A prime example is the new Jackie Robinson movie “42”. Everyone knows the story of Jackie Robinson and how he broke the race barrier in baseball. Obviously it is a life story worth being told. But reviews of the movie were mixed. Some saw the film as displaying a one-sided heroic portrait of Robinson that failed to delve into the nuance of the time and the man, while others saw it as a beautiful celebration of an American hero. In both instances it is the filmmaker, the artist, who defines the reception of the film and the worthwhile nature of the story.

            While many stories are made about superheroes, fantastic events, natural disasters, the end of the world, etc., what makes these stories compelling are not these fantastic elements, it’s the artists’ ability to connect these fantastic elements to our humanity and human emotions. It’s the pairing of the sinking of the Titanic with the forbidden love between Jack and Rose. It’s the action in the boxing ring paired with the drive, determination, and overachieving Rocky. It’s the magic of Hogwarts experienced through the wonder in a kid’s eyes.

I’ll always remember the opening sequence from the first Spiderman film that starts, “This story like any story worth telling is about a girl.” Is there anything earth-shattering between the age-old story of boy meets girl or coming of age. We all must come of age at some point. We all grow. We all mature and learn lessons in our lives. We all fall in love in some way, whether it is love realized or love lost. We all have relationships with each other, our parents, our siblings, and our friends. We all have hopes and dreams. Indeed, I believe that it is these universal themes, universal experiences of our lives and our humanity that makes any story worth telling. What becomes important and what makes a story great is how that story is told. The way in which the artist uses the means available to him to convey the emotion, the experience, the psychology of our lived experiences that we remember. In this way a story is a lot like poetry, where you describe something so familiar, to real, and make it even more real or differently perceived. Which can then define who we conceive of our own experiences and stories as well. 

Thus, I have no doubt that my human experiences, or yours, could very well be an academy award winning film or new york times best seller, you just have to put them in the right hands.