*Spoiler alert: the following talks about the movie "Never Let Me Go", though with great care, some details will be necessary. If you don't plan to watch the movie, then continue on!
Tuesday nights had been re-officialized as my Gossip Girl night since the beginning of the new season, so unless absolutely necessary, I wouldn't miss it for anything. It was definitely a good timing to start the season as I won't be going anywhere within the next month or so, hence my total appreciation that the series have come back to keep me company on Tuesday nights. My weekly dosage of the scandalous lives of the Upper East Side socialites keeps me happily amused.
However, tonight had a different turnout. Upon returning from the gym, I had switched on the TV to find it screening the Fox Movie Channel, when a movie had just begun. I've always been a movie lover, so of course, seeing unfamiliar scenes, I stopped to wait for the title. "Never Let Me Go"? This looks like...oh yes, it had been on preview many times months coming, and I've always wanted to watch it. Finally, it's playing! But, what about Gossip Girl? Well, I can always ask my best friend what happened- She's the Gossip Girl Go-To person, so she can fill me in on this episode later.
The movie described a foreign way of life, beginning at the stage of schooling where students led very guarded lives. The funny thing was, it never occurred to the students otherwise. They had simply accepted all facts and rules as given, not really knowing the purpose of the things they were being told. Only until a newly hired Guardian had spoke out, finally some light was shed as to what their purposes in life was. Unlike normal people, they are donors. Once they reach adulthood, they will begin their donation process. It may be as short as one session or as long as four sessions until completion- when they have donated all they could. The end of life, all before they reach mid-30's.
I've seen a couple of movies with this type of story line, for example "The Island", where human cloning was possible and widely used to delay the ticking clock of death. But what had always been the question was whether these "creatures" were really human. Could they feel? What is the percentage of likeness to us? Well, if they were built as we are, why wouldn't they behave the way we do? In a way, it makes me wonder how do they come to terms in accepting their "destiny" so willingly. Being told, "You are a donor, and your only purpose in life is to donate your organs so your original can live on." Maybe that's how most people are- to live within what's given, and never wonder about what else could be out there.
Which brings me to what I wanted to say. In that world, destiny is openly written and wholly accepted. But in "this"world- our world- it isn't. Yet, why do people live as if so? Why do people only go as far as their backyard, their comfort zone of what is certain? It stuns me how common that trait is. No matter how I see it, living knowingly or unknowingly of the date of your death, one would hope to live to the fullest, no? It doesn't make sense to sell yourself short of anything less. It just doesn't. For all we know, the world may end as the Mayan calendar prescribes at the end of 2012. So what now? Do you need a death date slowly tightening its grip on your neck to finally do the things you want to do?
Not me. I'm not waiting for life to hand me a receipt before I have a real chance digging into the buffet.
