Triumph of Spirit

My friend and former client Mary had forwarded a link to a film a couple week ago. She and her husband had seen the film "The Desert of Forbidden Art" at the Denver Film Festival, and really enjoyed it, and noted there were upcoming screenings in New York.

An art loving friend and I went to see the documentary, which had that astounding effect of seeing something new for the very first time.

Artists, oppressed under Soviet regime, were primarily sent to mental hospitals, concentration camps or executed. Their art was illegal and never shown to the outside world. Some artists were allowed to remain artists though their art was expressions of party propaganda and approved images (happy peasants working cheerfully in the fields), not true expressions of their soul.

Igor Savitsky, a former Russian aristocrat whose passion was art, had a vision of rescuing this forbidden art, and creating a museum in the desert of Uzbekistan, under the radar of the KGB -- the 'boon docks' to most of civilization, unless you happen to be a camel!

After the Soviet regime collapsed, a New York Times writer was asked to cover the region 'that nobody in the world really ever thought about" visited the museum that now held 40,000 works of art. He said:

"It didn't take me more than a few minutes of walking around this museum for my jaw to drop..."

This is an incredible story...

I'm Yours

Yesterday I asked my colleague Emily if she was celebrating Earth Hour today -- the hour where million of people across the planet turn off their lights at 8:30 p.m. as a small but collective act to take a stand for preserving our planet. "I'm trying to do it all day," she said.

What began as an idea in Sydney four years ago has spread, with the global reach of the World Wildlife Fund, to over 128 countries to celebrate and thoughtfully contemplate what we all have in common: our home.

I recently read that the entire human population could fit - shoulder to shoulder - inside the parameters of LA. So, this isn't a question of 'space'....

As we struggle to live in harmony with one another, with our resources, with other millions of species, the words of my friend Fabien's grandfather Jacques Cousteau come to mind: "People protect what they love."

Fabien has often said "It's time we stop living on this planet and living with this planet."

One home, for all of us. I'm yours.

Life Isn't Fair...

A couple weekends ago I went to watch my godson Connor play in a squash tournament. Jason was out of town for business and Stacy needed to supervise a Brownie outing. "He's allowed to walk to there on his own," Stacy said, "But he's kindof like an Italian soccer player; he does better when someone watches him."

I was happy to be Con's cheerleader and spent Saturday afternoon watching Connor play - and then amazingly win the semi finals! We went out for a victory ice cream cone and he supervised my texts to his parents letting them know he won, and was going to be in the finals tomorrow!

The next day, I switched plans and Stacy, Carly, Logan and I all watched Connor play a very tight match. Stacy was so nervous she couldn't even watch. Suddenly it was over and I wasn't sure if Connor won or not. Stacy and I shot each other a look and we couldn't tell by his face either. Stacy went to check on Connor (who didn't come to sit by us) and then mouthed "He lost..." over his head to me. "You played great Connor," I said during the walk home. He nodded, but was very quiet.

The next day I asked Stacy how Connor was. Stacy said he said he was fine, but she caught him in his room that night before bed practicing the shots he said missed when he got a little over confident. I think we both had lumps in our throats thinking about Connor in his PJs practicing the shots he thought cost him the match. I finally said "Well, you can't always win..."

Something we all eventually learn, but even as a seasoned adult, it never does take the sting completely away.

One of my favorite books ever, "The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure (The Good Parts Version)" was written by the author and screenwriter William Goldman, who also wrote"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "All the President's Men", "Marathon Man" among others.

In spinning this tale of true love and high adventure, Goldman often goes off on humorous yet poignant tangents about himself: How this fictional book changed his life when he was a boy, and during a chapter when the beautiful Buttercup marries the evil Prince Humperdink instead of Wesley her true love, the lesson he learned about how things don't always work out they way you hope they might.

"Look. (Grownups skip this paragraph.) I'm not about to tell you this book has a tragic ending. I already said it in the very first line it was my favorite book in all the world. But there's a lot of bad stuff coming up, torture you've already been prepared for, but there's worse. There's death coming up, and you better understand this: some of the wrong people die. Be ready for it. This isn't 'Curious George Uses the Potty'. Nobody warned me and it was my own fault (you'll see what I mean in a little) and that was my mistake, so I'm not letting it happen to you. The wrong people die, some of them, and the reason is this: life is not fair. Forget all the garbage your parents put out. Remember Morgenstern. You'll be a lot happier."

So life isn't fair. You don't always win the game. Plans, schemes and dreams become derailed. Unexpected letdowns and blindsiding surprises occur. And sometimes the wrong people do die.

However, as William Goldman reminds us, there's also great friendship, true love and, with any luck, high adventure, in store for us too!