HERE'S TO YOU ~ NEW YEAR'S STYLE

One of the things that I have NEVER done with a Thursday post is intersperse dialogue of explanation into a post. I decided that just once to ring in the New Year just might be the time. I am all about trying new things. And if you guys really like it, I just might do it again. That is how this blog rolls, after all. So we shall see.

So, in a bizarre sort of a way, I am going to tell a story. In my mind, all TV shows (non-reality), books, music, etc. tell stories. And we identify with them because they tell our story at some point in time. When the days comes that it hits us where we live, that is when we have the "aha" moment. Until then, it is just a story. And we all love a great love story, but we find ourselves crying our eyes out over the forgiveness stories, the people who have to work hard to beat the odds, people who keep getting tough life lessons and prevailing... these are the stories we love. These are our stories.

So, let us begin with a short clip from what has become a very inspirational show to me: Friday Night Lights. It is all of a minute and a half and it makes me cry every time.

It will not embed, so you have to click on the link. Sorry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBjP0AFZM3A&feature=related

Now, I hope you didn't cheat and actually watched the clip so that my commentary makes sense. That kid had more crap thrown at him while he was still in high school than most people get. And you have two choices... you can stay stuck in that bathtub or you can get out. That is it. You don't see it in that clip, but he gets it, and mentally gets out of the tub. Not everyone does. They might physically get out of the tub, but mentally be in the tub for the rest of their life blaming everyone else for their failures.

Let's take a look at our next life lesson:



I debated the many ways of putting this one up. This is from Gilmore Girls and showcases the sadness of the Luke/Lorelei breakup. I thought about posting the actual breakup, but there were too many scenes to really get the pain of it. This is way post break up and there is still so much freaking pain there. My point is that if two people really love each other deeply than they should forgive and work harder. These two BOTH made bad choices. Both need to forgive and both need to work at moving back together. I like to think that if the series hadn't been cancelled we would have eventually gotten to see that on film.

Which brings me to something that Chris over at a Deliberate Life (see my sidebar) has been talking about in her blog recently: How Bad Do Want It? This shall be discussed more fully after the clip:



I am just going to assume that you watched the video. The song was by Tim McGraw. Clips from Supernatural. I like the combo. They are literally fighting the supernatural (all manner of demons, etc.) and laying it all out on the line. So, they want it pretty bad. There is no half measures for them. Chris approaches her weight loss the same way. I think that if the rest of us approached our lives like that, the whole world would get spun on its ear. That really is the only question: how bad do you want it???? You want it bad enough and you will make it happen. 'Nuff said.

With that in mind, I love this next clip. It offers some perspective on this here world:



Every town is a Devil Town. Just so you know, my original thought was to put this to a Buffy clip but one doesn't exist. However, that would have been selfish, simply because I have been experiencing Buffy withdrawals here. And it would have been deceptive. I could have used the original music video, but I don't like it. So, I went with the FNL video, which is where I found the song. Plus, it lends itself to it. All of the people in that town are good and bad. They all stand up and they all fall down. The thing is you choose. Every day. Vampires are energy suckers. Every day you choose whether or not you are going to be one. Each day that you choose to give and not suck, it gets easier to make that same choice the next day. Each day you choose to not let someone suck your energy, it gets easier to choose that the next day. Make no mistake. It is a Devil Town, but your CHOICE.

This next clip is absolutely perfect for forgiveness because it goes full circle:



In the beginning, you saw a man that after most of his adult life was still not ready to embrace forgiveness. You also saw that it was eating away at him. It hurt me to watch it. It hurt his family to watch it. In a few brief phrases, the old man (aka God) put an explanation to it that made me feel somewhat better about it. Forgiveness doesn't always happen all at once. And then Adam came along and sat down. He had been angry at Joan for months, pushed her out of his life, and denied the feelings he had for her. Then he SAID OUT LOUD why people do the stupid things they do to each other. Why they don't forgive. They are scared. Scared of being hurt. And he was tired of being scared. He was ready to let that go. Forgiveness did happen that day. Joan wanted her dad to find his missing note, but he wasn't ready. However, Adam was. It is a beautiful thing.

This song always makes me think of JJ, The Disconnected Writer (see the sidebar):



He always likes to throw out big philosophical questions and see how people respond to them. What if history started now, what kind of world would you want if you could have anything? Be careful what you wish for... I am curious to hear your thoughts. Though I hate to end my post on this note because you won't respond to any of the rest of my clips and I have put a lot of thinking into them. So, bring on those thoughts, but tell me what you think about everything else, too.


image found at www.weheartit.com