Tuesday, March 26, 2013

A Beautiful Redemption

I was sick (again) Monday. (There are a lot of diseased people and I wonder why I always come across them.)  So instead of having fun playing laser tag and racing go-carts, I was home in my jammies, on the couch, loaded with tissues.

And watching zombie movies.


I noticed a recurrent theme: virus outbreak, a few characters band together for survival, some good people die and the end is always indeterminate. While I'm sure this would truly be the case if a zombie event broke out, it got tedious with the same story line.

Maybe that's why I liked the movie Warm Bodies so much; it offered the zombies who still had a smidgen of their humanity left a chance to redeem themselves. I'm a firm believer in redemption. Humanity, while capable of such horrors as enslavement, genocide, and heartlessness, is also capable of selfless love, generosity, and sacrifice. I've seen it: Superstorm Sandy relief, a person donating a kidney to a co-worker, all those people who check off  'Organ Donor' on their license.

But you have to want redemption, like R in Warm Bodies; it doesn't just come free. Some people have to come a long way for it, but they do it. Others, like serial killer Eileen Wuournos, blamed their victims for their murderous acts, never once taking responsibility, the first step toward redemption.

I think I've seen enough zombie movies for the rest of my life, although I will watch Warm Bodies again. I think we all have something for which we need a little redemption.

So I think I will go do some redeeming things today, including working on my manuscript (it has to have some redeeming qualities...). How about you?

Char

2 comments:

  1. I've been obsessing over Les Miserables and also been thinking of redemption. Hmmm...You not only have to want it but you also have to be able to accept that not everyone is going to care about your redemption.

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  2. Good point Rachee! And also that it might not turn out the way you expect...

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