I find that you can read both beautiful and ugly things online. That's none too surprising as I also find that people can be both beautiful and ugly in character. And, the same person can be both - it's a matter of choice.
This month brought to our screens the final installment of the Harry Potter juggernault; I went to see it as it seemed like one to see on the big screen. The special effects and the grandeur of the final picture did not disappoint. I didn't find the scenes as emotional as some suggested I might (with comments like "take tissues" bouncing around Facebook). No, I'm not that hard-hearted - I'd read the book so I knew roughly what to expect. The only thing that slightly got to me was the inscription on the the gravestone of a particular character at the start of the movie... yes indeed, we are free and we make choices.
It's not a new theme; CS Lewis tackled it when Edmund initially was 'romanced' by Jadis in "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe"; Lucas depicted the consequences of a man making continually dark choices in his Star Wars movies. It may have been set in a a "galaxy far far away" but the theme couldn't be closer to home.
So this weekend we see choices on the screen at the cinema, and beamed into our homes with heartwrenching newsfeed from Norway. We also hear of a young singer's tragic demise, and a loss of British talent with the death of 27 year old Amy Winehouse. We all make choices, I made some fairly illadvised choices over the weekend. We all make choices that effect people around us.
Feeling fairly silly and low I found a rather beautiful blog by Sharon Jaynes about choices, failing and failure. Her blog and recent events have inspired me to once again get blogging (doing away with past blogs) and to write in a more organised manner.
Incidentally if you would like to read another rather inspirational piece of writing I suggest you go view Russell Brand's article on Amy Winehouse featured in The Guardian.
