My business is to create

I think that as human beings we take a lot more than we give back. We consume and consume, yet we don't always create or give back and share our talents or gifts with others. I was thinking about this topic and reflecting on how one of my favorite movies, P.S. I love you helps demonstrate this.

The movie would fit in the genre of romance, even though I consider it a romance comedy. This movie can make you laugh, can make you cry and makes you think. Not to mention the scenery is beautiful and it has such a great take away if you let the movie sink in. The array of characters, their personalities and how they grow is also really cool to see. Below is the description from the DVD.

                      "When Gerry (Gerard Butler), the husband of Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank), dies from an illness, she loses the love of her life. Knowing how hard Holly will take his death, Gerry plans ahead. Beginning on her 30th birthday, she receives the first in a series of letters written by him, designed to ease her grief and encourage her to move forward to a new life. "

So at first glance one might think, "awee what a sweet movie."  Wait! there is sooo much more to this movie. One of the big lessons here is that of creating.

The opening scene in the movie  Gerry and Holly are having a fight, it shows Holly's dissatisfaction with life, their disagreement about having a baby and Holly not feeling prepared because of the small space they are currently living in and not being where she thinks they ought to be in life. Holly however has many many shoes, which is kind of comical, she can afford all those expensive shoes, yet they are not saving money instead for some of the things that she does want, like a bigger place maybe. One can see that Holly is scared, "what if this is all there is to our life," Holly says. One can see that Holly yearns to create to make something to get out all that energy that is just stagnant in her. She wants more out of life. She has many material things, but the things that matter to her are not there, and she is also uncertain of what she wants. I find it easy to relate to this, sometimes one can feel trapped, confined and displeased with life, yet sometimes we do not even know what it is we really want nor are we willing to work for it.

The movie goes on to show as flashback how Holly and Gerry first meet. Holly is on vacation from college and is visiting Ireland. She is dressed in so many colors. She is walking alone and is lost looking for a park not knowing that she has been walking it this whole time. Holly is not concerned though, as she is taking in the scenery the beautiful hills, flowers and colors of the land. She meets Gerry along her path and they start to talk. Gerry asks Holly about what she is studying and Holly says she is an artist. Holly rambles on about art creating, and speaks with passion. Holly goes on to quote William Blake "I will not reason, and compare, my business is to create." That scene is so important and helps tie the movie together. This scene shows Holly care free as her artist self. She is replenishing the well of creativity, she is clearly happy and searching for the inspiration to create.

So the movie progresses, Gerry passes, but before he dies he puts together some letters that are to be delivered to Holly after his death starting on her 30th b-day. These letters help Holly get back on track, pull her out of her depression and they help her find her creative self again. "Watch out for that signal, when life as you know it ends," Gerry writes in one of the letters. Truer words couldn't have been written/ Holly's life will be transformed.

Holly goes on to receive several letters, and slowly she emerges from the depths of her sadness. Holly gets a clue or signal from Gerry's earn/box of ashes which she designed. One of the decoration pieces on the earn falls off next to a shoe. Holly places the  decoration piece on the actual shoe and lets it sit there for a few days.

Holly receives a letter in which Gerry plans a trip for Holly to go back to Ireland with her friends. This trip helps Holly piece things together and brings her some closure and it helps remind her of her artist self and who she is. Once Holly comes back home her creativity starts to flow and she is able to start moving past her husbands death. Holly ends up taking a class on how to make and design shoes. The last letter eventually arrives. It is really cool to see the growth that Holly has as a person and for her to realize how selfish she was being, and to see her creativity be sparked again and to see her as an artist.

I  encourage everyone out there to create, to pick up a pain brush, to cook and make something, dance, or to write a song, do something that gets your creative juices flowing!

Creativity is harnessing universality and making it flow through your eyes- Peter Koestenbaum

P.S. I encourage you to watch "P.S I love you" :)