YOU BEFORE ME

It was by fluke of good fortune that I got to see an amazing film, ‘ME BEFORE YOU’. This was my first time of seeing a film in a multiplex theater all by myself. May be some of you, my readers may feel, ‘What’s so great about that?’ but believe me, for me it became a memory to be treasured. It was a totally different experience; a moment of independence, not that I’m not an independent woman otherwise, but the feeling of being all by myself and having no concerns for anyone accompanying me was definitely different. It was a moment of soulfulness, something like that of a caged bird which had been behind bars of love for quite a life time and which had stepped out to stretch its wings and allow a little bit of wind under its feathers to experience a high. I was in tune with the typical modern day understanding of exploring happiness alone without being lonely.

Coming to the movie though, ‘Me before You’, adapted from the bestselling novel by Jo Jo Moyes, is all about love, sacrifice and living from a different perspective; probably an old fashioned one. A young and beautiful girl (Emilia Clarke) sacrifices her personal ambitions to fund her family and makes joy happen in her life in spite of all the usual problems generally faced by living beings. She gets employed by an extremely wealthy family (they own a castle) of a thirty something quadriplegic handsome man who is able to look into her depths and realize the beauty of her heart underneath her gross and unrefined sense of dressing as well as her inexperience as a caregiver. Frustrated with his kind of existence, he understands what it is to live chained and urges her to live at least once for herself. However she is so full of love and care that such kind of advice is beyond her comprehension. At the end though, we see him gifting her a lovely holiday to Paris where she goes all alone smiling and reading his letter to her as he has already self willingly moved on his journey. The soothing lyrics of the song, ‘Loving hurts but that’s all I know’ are just perfect in the background and the last words of advice her angel has given her are to ‘just live’ probably without any sense of guilt regarding her responsibilities.

As I walked out of the theatre, a little whisper brought a smile to my face and made me think about what it had spoken to me. If man was made to be alone, God would never have created Eve after Adam. Living is a journey of loving and yes lonesomeness may not necessarily be loneliness but it does after sometime become purposeless. We humans have been made after an image and with a purpose and that purpose needs us to love.

The world would have come to an end long ago if women would have not allowed their bodies to go out of shape and assist creation. Mankind would have been left unsaved if Christ would have placed Himself before us and said ‘Me before you’. But it all became ‘you before Me’ which did cause pain and sorrow but left no place for regret.

Loving is not always beautiful and glamorous as is made out in love-story books. The process is not for the weak-hearted, it is for the strong who can allow themselves to disappear into their objects of love allowing themselves to die if required for those whom they love. At times it can also happen that a lifetime could be spent caring for someone who in turn couldn't care enough, but that is not the point of love.

For the one who loves this canvas of life, pouring out shades of affection is an art that has to at times take the strokes of stripes on his body and soul, and the mastery of such an art is anything but easy. It could be, that all of a sudden a glass of water may topple over the beautiful canvas and smudge it. A heart filled with love may drop a tear at that, but its glory would be that it had captured the original picture in itself.

The art of living is ultimately the art of giving; giving till it pains unbearably.

And all those who love, don’t so easily break with the darts of sorrow flung at them because,