Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

An exhausting day.

You travel, you come home, everyone's different, everyone's the same.

You connect, just barely, but it's enough, to buy the pass.

You have a conversation, and move a life, everything's uncertain, yet so carved.

She's your daughter, you see the woman, you want to hold on, and you can't.

So you play your role, you do best, you say your words, and you hope.

And you wonder, what you're doing, and you tell yourself, you need to be strong.

But then you search, in all directions, for the sense of purpose, to go on.

And then it's morning, and all your fears, seem to dissipate, in the sun.

And the schedule followed, equals purpose, and your motion, carries on.

And you make some breakfast, drop off children, and you're driving, through a life.

Then you schedule, sense of duty, and you hope, everyone's fine.

Then it's connection, holding close, first a tantrum, then a smile.

Then it's order, sense of mastery, then assembled, food you serve.

Then it's disaspora, people spreading, everyone's gone, to the night.

Then it's gathering, around the island, everyone's spoken, then it's tight.

Then we gather, round the hearth, watch the flames, flicker bright.

One by one, succumb to darkness, then it's shadow, swallowed slight.

Then you're alone, confronting meaning, and you know, all is well.

So much meaning, so much sorrow, so much fear, so much light.

And you carry, golden bodies, up the stairs, to the night.

Then you gather, all your thinking, all your prayers, all alone.

And you realize, life is precious, and connected, worth the fight.

* * *

Today was a blur.

Trying desperately to connect to everyone's lives that refuse to stand still despite all my motion, while simultaneously plotting an exploration that either informs or infirms--depending on a host of variables I cannot dream of controlling.

It was a good day to see two movies.

The first, with my two youngest, was "The Bridge to Terabithia." "Gone with the Wind" to some, out of left field to me.

The personal connection was remembering all those farm kids who wore the same shoes year after year, and the same clothes day after day.

I was lucky, I guess. I wore shirts and pants that three brothers had worn before, and somehow I was the "rich" kid in my town.

But that was a nice connection, easily made, and easily digested.

Later that night, with all assembled, we watched "Babel" at home.

We have three movie posters, all signed to the max, in our home theater: "Little Miss Sunshine," "Letters from Iwo Jima," and "The Departed." Tonight I saw the film that will win the Oscar--hands down.

The clincher to me was the kids in two deserts--so alone and so vulnerable. I have been to the desert on a horse that was named, and I have climbed a mountain, armed with children, under seriously disadvantageous conditions, and I connected to that fear--that sense of getting away with it right up until the point where you lose it all, if you're not careful.

But what a movie. As much as I love the other three and "Children of Men," this one's hype is well-deserved. "Crash extrapolated" is not nearly enough to describe this masterpiece.

This one transcends.

Very beautiful. Very connected. Very Mexican--like my other favorite of the year ("Children of Men"). You cannot watch these two movies and fear for this country's future.

I realize I am bypassing a universe of issues. I'm just telling you, that we're connecting to something very powerful, very familial, very religious, and very strong.

America cannot grow weaker by this association.

I was also deeply impressed by the Asian connection in this film. I have one European daughter, desperate to be Japanese, and one Chinese daughter, desperate to be American.

And as I peer, into such pathways, I cannot help, but marvel at the essential strength which is my nation.

* * *

Get yourself connected to that.

Believe in things you know.

Realize the best is yet to come.