Three Beautiful Moments for the Weary American Soul

An old and an old woman, a flying artist, and man making headway ...

I just realized last night how profoundly weary I am. I remember once getting caught in a set of high, powerful waves as I was trying to get to shore. Every time I got up, I got knocked down again — dozens of times — until I finally crashed into the sand completely exhausted. But I made it.

And then I got up and watched these three short, fantastic clips. Enjoy, my friends. And pass these along to your friends.

We’re going to get dreadfully enervated from the daily assaults from Trump and a world full of Putins, Erdogans, Elons, Netanyahus, Thiels, Voughts, and Hegseths.

Renew. Restore. Keep fighting.

Alejandro Olivera, Principal Dancer, Cincinnati Ballet

Born in Cuba, he was trained from age 9 at the Cuban National Ballet, spent a couple of years in Russia studying with Duato, and then became the principle dancer with the Cincinnati Ballet. He is the best I’ve seen since Barishnykov. A short one from Facebook Reels.

CLICK HERE https://www.facebook.com/reel/3175389502626412

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Headway

Slackliner Louis Bonaface and a cool violinist transform a wobbly start into a triumph. Every time I lose heart, I watch this again.

CLICK THE GO BUTTON.

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Thursday Appointment

At 2 minutes 26 seconds, this short film by a 19-year-old Iranian film maker is archetypally deep, joyful, and healing. It’s got two levels — the one everyone will understand — and the deeper, which is steeped in ancient Iranian culture. Watch it once. Then, read the cultural notes below the film window for a much sweeter take on the movie — and a HUGE SURPRISE!

What is a Thursday Appointment?

In Iran, people traditionally visit the graves of their loved ones on the last Thursday and Friday before the Persian New Year. As we’ll soon see, they take very specific gifts.

The Persian New Year is called Nowruz, and it is observed at the vernal equinox. This year Nowruz, which has been celebrated for 3,000 years, is on March 20-21, 2023. That makes the date of the next Thursday Appointment this coming Thursday, March 16.

So this Thursday, people all over Iran will reenact the scenes of this film, streaming out of the cities to the cemeteries, ancient and modern, where relatives and friends have been laid to rest. There will be traffic jams. And in the midst of them couples will have arguments, children will be afraid, and grandparents will save them all over again.

What Poetic Game Are They Playing? The Hafez Game!

In this film, the old man and the old woman are actually playing a game. It’s The Hafez Game, and almost everyone in Iran knows how to play this game.

Khwāje Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī (Persian: خواجه شمس‌‌الدین محمّد حافظ شیرازی), known by his pen name Hafez, was born in Shiraz in Muzaffarid, Persia, in 1325 CE. Now, a thousand years later, this mystical lyricist is still the best-loved poet in Iran. He wrote in ghazals, the poetic form considered most propitious for expressing divine love in poetic terms. Perfect for a Sufi, which he was.

His most famous work is The Divān of Hafez, a collection of ghazals compiled after his death. A copy of the Divān can be found in virtually every Iranian home—and many Iranians memorize it. The couple in this film certainly did! On days of special celebration, people use the Divān as an I Ching, randomly flipping open the book and considering what they read there to be a prediction.

The other use of the ghazals by Iranians who have memorized the Divān is the game played by our elderly couple in Thursday Appointment. One person begins the game by reciting a line of Hafez’s poetry. Now the challenge is that the other person needs to come up with the next line! In the case of our old lovers, they are reciting a ghazal that is a very passionate one—for indeed Hafez’s great fame centers around spiritual ecstasy poetry which, like much poetry in Sufi literature (check out Ibn al-Arabi), sounds very much like human love poetry. In the case of these two very married people, this is perfectly apropos. She knows he’s flirting, and he loves doing it.

Hafez bucked authority, wrote about romantic love and taverns, poked fun at spiritual strutting, and despised hypocrisy with every fiber of his being. He died in Shiraz between the ages of 60 and 65. His poetry, translated into English in the 18th century, influenced Goethe, Yeats, Emerson, Thoreau, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

What is the Symbolism of the Dates and Flowers?

The last scene of this tiny wonder of a film shows the front passenger seat as being empty. It holds only a few rose petals (from the bunch of roses the couple gave away) and a little bowl of dates.

Dates in all cultures are equivalent to the fig. They represent fecundity, fertility, and—as the date palm was the Tree of Life in the ancient world—life itself, the cycle of life, and the spiritual Sephiroth, the ten channels of energy through which the will of God is revealed. Roses are a symbol of romantic love and also of spiritual love.

In Iran during Nowruz, flowers and dates are the traditional gifts taken to the graves of beloved ones who have died.

Where Is the Old Woman at the End?

That’s hard to say. But it rather looks as if she’s never been there. Once, when the old man looks at the arguing couple in the next car, he is looking out through the right passenger door window, but the old woman isn’t in the passenger seat. So perhaps this conversation between two old lovers is a conversation between an old man and the ghost of his wife.

Now watch the movie a second time. …

It’s the same movie, but now you know a little bit more about the culture from which it sprang. Its archetypal meaning, visible regardless of culture, is just the same. But somehow, it is far richer to join their journey knowing something about what their rituals mean.

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Feel better. Breathe deeply. Then … when you’re ready … get back to grappling with this hydra we have to deal with.

And have a great day …