Hope & Friendship . . .

As I have been on this recent journey of self-discovery and exploring the possibilities in life and living I have rediscovered one of our basic ideas of how lives work and go through many changes.  The scenery may change but the core values and work ethic remain the same.

There may be an ebb and flow of old friendships leaving an area but there are renewed and new friendships made along the way to another location.  That dynamic has always fascinated me as you come in contact with those and the friendships grow stronger.  Renewed or meeting new friends can sometimes bring fresh perspectives which you may not have thought about before. 

Part of my time here in Oregon has been getting to know friends who I have vacationed with but known long distance for many years while others are part of a large online gaming community.  Many of us gather once a year in various locations around the country to have a weekend of fellowship, music, and food.  It is a living community which has had over the last fifteen years within our membership births, illnesses, graduations from high school, college or other organizations as well as dating or marriages within the community.  In our gaming community there is support and people who care . . . not just in the virtual world but in our real lives too.  This community is about friendship and love for one another inside and outside the context of playing a game . . . many people have the opportunity to express it on the forum boards and during our yearly gatherings.

I was watching television last weekend and was reminded of my favorite film of all time, Shawshank Redemption.  

Here's a film that's worth watching over and over.  I cannot count the number of times I have watched it and each time come away with different aspects of life, how to live it, not waste it and those people around you.

It is a film about Friendship and Hope. 

I had never really given much attention to novels by Stephen King other than The Shining until this movie was released.  It did not do all that well in the limited release in movie theaters at the time but developed an almost cult following in the home market with Blockbuster, Net Flicks, and all of the mom and pops video stores.  

The script, the extraordinary acting, the cinematography, the symbolism, the music, everything comes together perfectly in a cinematic experience that moves me every time I see it.  The thing that sets this movie apart is the narration throughout the film by Morgan Freeman, who plays Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding.

I could write a lot about this film but I would recommend that you just go watch it if you haven't ever seen it and give it another look if you’ve seen it already.  Just remember it is about prison life and it is not all happy times.  It's tough and sometimes gritty with some scenes of violence that are pretty gut wrenching, however, the scenes of prison brutality are necessary for the final redemptive pay off at the end.

Stuck up banker Andy DuFresne, played superbly by Tim Robbins, is sent to Shawshank prison for two life terms for murders he didn't commit.  While there he is put through hell. He faces the worst kind of corruption, violence, religious hypocrisy and brutality . . . but through it all he hangs on to hope.  

Hope is the theme and Hope is the final word.  

In the midst of a world of stone, Andy retains a heart of hope.

Seeing again what was one of the best moments for me in this film.  Apart from the overwhelming relief of the twist ending, it's when Andy locks himself in the warden's office and plays a duet from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, then decides to broadcast the music across the prison's courtyard PA.  The hardened prisoners' faces light up with wonder and innocent joy.  It's unforgettable.  Music is a common denominator throughout the world and affects each of our lives differently but with a common thread of notes and sounds within our universe.

I'm sure that scene will go down as one of the greatest moments in cinema. It not only captures the theme of the whole film in one delicious, everlasting grin of a moment, but it also conveys the inexpressible beauty, poignancy and redemptive quality of music for all humanity.  More than that, the theme of hope is communicated in a way beyond words.

In the movie’s closing scene you hear the narration of Morgan Freeman’s character Red, speaking of Friendship and Hope

". . . I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head.

I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel,

a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. . .   

I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. . .

I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. . .

I hope."

Never give up hope or friendships within our lives, old or new . . .

Sweet dreams . . .

Ice