Risky Business

Photo by Jeff Hallam

"All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer."


— Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince


It's just so dense. The idea that everything is risky, that there's no such thing as no risk. An action that, by all reasonable standards, is considered safe, is risky if for nothing more than missing out on the opportunities available by not choosing the alternative. You can maintain $10,000 in a savings account earning 1% interest instead of investing in the stock market, but you risk missing out on millions. It's "safe" to keep your day job, but you risk forfeiting your dreams.


"Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer." The strength to suffer...a paradox echoed every day in every way. One of man's greatest attributes is the ability to adapt. Yet, it's often the undercurrent of a subpar life. I mean, it's fabulous to make lemons out of lemonade, to finesse the best of less than ideal situations. But the risk of that strength to suffer is loss of ambition. Loss of stride, pride.


I'm all for looking at the glass as half full. But I have to be careful that while maintaining a positive attitude I don't lose sight of reality. Harriet Tubman famously said, "If I could have convinced more people that they were slaves, I could have freed thousands more."


Many of the slaves that didn't try to escape were afraid of the consequences of getting caught, and for good reason. But how many scores of slaves didn't try because they had OD'd on silver linings and half-full glasses, so much so that plantation life didn't seem all that bad?


We work for bosses that don't respect us for decades. We live in neighborhoods riddled with drugs and poverty for generations. We terrorize our bodies with unnecessary weight and unhealthy foods for a lifetime. We dive into debt, credit card after credit card, loan after loan, to the point that our creditors have their own ringtones.


Strength to suffer.


I've got to live in a way that is more offense than defense, more action than reaction, more of what I desire and less of what I'm simply tolerating. To do otherwise is a risk I don't want to take.

Film Connect: Twilight

Story

Silly girl falls for ashen otherworldly he's-so-bad-for-you guy.  An American tale.  The story of many women's lives.  

Context Going In

I've never gotten into the vampire genre, but with my free Netflix trial, I figure, what the heck.  Let's see what all the hoopla's about.  A former co-worker tried to help me understand the appeal of a neck-biting centurion adolescent and why she'd seen the movie several times, preordered the DVD, read the books, and owned Twilight memorabilia.  

The closest I can relate to being  even remotely excited about a vampire was the shag rockin' Eddie Murphy in Vampire in Brooklyn.  But I doubt they even made T-shirts for that flick.

Impressions

"We shouldn't be friends," Edward informs Bella in the school cafeteria.  

Okay, I was flowing with the story up until this point.  I haven't been to the bathroom.  I'm not even on the Internet.  When did this "friendship" happen.  They worked together in biology, chatted in the hallway. Now they're friends?  Kids, I tell ya.

Then Bella gets all aggressive with the questions.  You saved my life by halting a car with your bare hand?  You owe me answers! 

Bella's onto Edward's underworldly secret, the reason why he's so fast, so powerful, so ashy.  He  confesses.

"Ask me the most basic question...what do we eat,"  Edward says.  Hmmm, is that really the most basic question?  Because if I was alone in a foggy forest with a vampire, that wouldn't be the first question to come to my mind.   

Edward:  You need to see what I look like in the sunlight.  (*Eye roll*)

Bella:  It's like diamonds.  You're beautiful.  (*Eye roll*)

Award for Most Asinine Conversation I've Heard in a Long Time, Real or Imaginary:

Edward:  I'm a killer.

Bella:  I don't believe that.

Edward:  It's because you believe the lie, the camouflage.  I'm the world's most dangerous predator...I'm designed to kill."

Wait for it, wait for it...

Bella:  I don't care.

Oh snap!  Nobody told me Twilight was a comedy!  Oh oh, there's more!

Edward:  I've killed people before.

Bella:  It doesn't matter.

*gasp, shriek, hyperventilating laughter*

I'm all for the Hollywood love story of undying (pun intended) passion, but this is ludicrous.  The relationship develops out of nowhere.  No build.  Cotton candy dialogue.  Not believable.

However, vampire baseball featuring ultra powered beings is a vividly monochrome slow motion moment of cool, which only lasts a sliver of time. 

***

I smirked through Twilight not because I'm too old to appreciate teenage infatuation with really bad things, but because the movie serves more cheese than Kraft.    It's as weak as a deer in the meadow, clutched betwixt Edward's perfect teeth.   Much of the dialogue would feature well in a vampire spoof movie...no additional jokes required. 

TWILIGHT