That Faith Life

In the classic film "Roman Holiday" Gregory Peck takes Audrey Hepburn to visit a wall lined with tiny tablets during a tour of Rome. He explains that the wall was started during World War II to give thanks for the divine intervention of wishes fulfilled. However it is said that they were technically "ex votos" or offerings made to Saints in thanks for sparing a loved one's life during the war. Little thank you cards to God lining the street. Today if you look closely at the stone walls of the Viale del Policlinico in Rome you may find holes where hundreds of these plaques, the "Wall of Wishes" once stood. The plaques were removed in the 1950's seen as an obsolete remnant of the war era. Walls of Wishes aren't strictly an Italian concept. One of the earliest known references actually goes back to the 18th century Israel. Where Rabbi's would instruct the destitute to write their prayers on slips of p...

City Slickers and The Meaning of Life

As a kid I watched the movie City Slickers and garnered some unexpected wisdom. In the film Billy Crystal plays Mitch, a...well city slicker who ventures out to a dude ranch thanks to a midlife crisis. Jack Palance true to form, plays Curly- a wise old cowboy. They have a conversation about the meaning of life: Curly holds up his index fingers and says, "do you know what the secret to life is? This." Mitch replies, "your finger?" Curly explains, "one thing, just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don't mean s**t." Mitch then questions, "that's great, but what's the one thing?" "That's what you gotta figure out," Curly says... End scene. Mitch seemed to have it all, yet he was still missing the one thing. As a child I assumed the things that gave life meaning as an adult were things that just came along with growing up- marriage, career, family, good friends... Little did I know none...

surf's up

Powered by Blogger