I love to watch a movie or read a book. My extensive collection of videotapes and DVDs is an escape from reality for a couple of hours. Whether it’s watching Sean Connery in one of his famous Bond movies or Halle Berry strutting her stuff, there’s nothing like a mindless flick for me.
Books are another thing entirely. It’s like a movie in my head when I read a book. I can make a book last for weeks, or I can zip right through it in a couple days if I can’t put it down. Reading is like meeting a group of whole new friends. But part of me knows that for every movie there’s a camera crew just outside of the len’s range. Part of me imagines the computer artists removing the wires on the people doing dangerous air stunts. Part of me sees the author writing his novel and realizing he’s got the whole thing planned out, and maybe the next novel too.
Then sometimes I wish that it would be so neat if my life was a movie, a fiction. That at some point the director would call “Cut!” and I would stand up, the actor pretending to be a hack writer in a wheelchair.
I’d walk to my trailer for a cup of coffee or flirt with a cute extra. The makeup artist would come over and touch up my face or scold me about getting coffee on my shirt, requiring a wardrobe change. Maybe I’d have a stunt double for the scene where I fall out of my wheelchair.
Sadly, life isn’t a movie, we don’t have stunt doubles.
Life isn’t fiction. Art mirrors life and without life, we would have no art. Movies may have happy endings – but unfortunately we can’t just rewrite our lives. We take what we are given by the great screenwriter in the sky. And we can’t hold out for better pay, either.
Unlike “Star Trek”, our lives don’t improve with syndication. We get one shot at it. No second takes at scenes we screwed up. So no matter how long your movie is, whether it’s long or short, an epic series or a cartoon, make the most of it while you can. Your life won’t be in reruns.