Last night I saw the The Bucket List and was struck by the contrast in the lives of the two men who are terminally ill. The starkest contrast came when Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) was having dinner (an archetypical family Thanksgiving dinner with adults and children around a table fellowshipping at a sumptuous feast) and the companion scene of Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) eating alone and in desperation striking and crushing a clear plastic take out container with his fist. After this low point, Edward faced his isolation and amended relations with his long alienated daughter.
During the running of the credits a moving song was played: Say what you need to say. Some of the lyrics by John Mayer are: “Even if your hands are shaking/And your faith is broken/Even as the eyes are closing/Do it with a heart wide open/Why?/Say what you need to say ……………” There is a repetitive refrain: “Say what you need to say/Say what you need to say/Say what you need to say/Say what you need to say/Say what you need to say/Say what you need to say/Say what you need to say/Say what you need to say.”
What excellent advice. Too often we assume that there will be plenty of opportunities to say what we need to say. In fact there are no guarantees that the opportunity that presents itself will ever come again. We should make it a habit of saying what we need to say in everyday situations. We need to be faithful to others and ourselves in expressing our minds and hearts. We need to say what we need to say, be it serious, humorous, small, or great. We need to understand the simple fact that there are some things that must be said in order to retain integrity, follow conscience, and fulfill destiny in the present moment.
