A Call to Community and Action (or How to Fall Asleep by 9:30 on a Friday Night)

I saw a strange move last night called Waking Life. It was shot in live action then animated over, creating a very surreal visual style. It was about life and beyond that I can't figure it out. Mostly is was fairly random people explaining their philosophies. I struggled to stay awake after the novel look of the film wore off but two scenes are memorable.

The first is near the end of the movie. Two people bump into each other on a subway station staircase. They politely say, "excuse me", then carry on a few steps before the young woman turns back:

Young Woman: Hey. Could we do that again? I know we haven't met, but I don't want to be an ant, you know? I mean, it's like we go through life with our antennas bouncing off one another, continuously on ant auto-pilot with nothing really human required of us. Stop. Go. Walk here. Drive there. All action basically for survival. All communication simply to keep this ant colony buzzing along in an efficient polite manner. "Here's your change", "Paper or plastic?", "Credit or debit?", "You want ketchup with that?" I don't want a straw, I want real human moments. I want to see you. I want you to see me. I don't want to give that up. I don't want to be an ant, you know?

Young Man: Yeah. Yeah, no. I don't want to be an ant either. Heh. Yeah, thanks for kind of jostling me there. I have been kind of on zombie auto-pilot lately, I donn't feel like an ant in my head, but I guess I probably look like one. It's kind of like D.H. Lawrence had this idea of two people meeting on a road. And instead of just passing and glancing away, they decide to accept what he calls "the confrontation between their souls." It's like, um, freeing the brave reckless gods within us all.

Young Woman: Then it's like we have met.

The second memorable scene is maybe two-thirds through. Four twenty-something year old guys were walking and disscussing some random phillosophy when they notice an old, seemingly homeless person clinging to the top of a telephone pole. The distraction interupts their discussion and they ask him what he's doing. He replies, "Well, I'm not sure". One of the guy's mutters, "stupid bastard" as they walk off. His friend insightfully replys, "No worse than us. He's all action and no theory. We're all theory and no action."

Both these scenes are true. I think the film struggels with the reality that it can only ask questions and is unable to provide any solutions for both the missing human contact and missing action in our world. It's ironic that probably the act of watching the movie inhibited me from existing in community and acting and instead encouraged isolation and theory for at least two hours on a Friday night.

May I seek community and reach for opportunities to act even when isolation and theory are the easier path.