I submit that men not only look at women, they study them. At least they should, for therein is much to ponder...!
For example, aside from my long-suffering wife, I find two iconic women worth studying: Masha and Mame. Both are fictional, and yet so intensely real. Masha is a pensive young woman in Anton Chekhov's classic The Sea Gull. Mame is the free-living-loving lead character in the Broadway musical Mame. To give an idea of their respective philosophies of life, Masha's first line is spoken introspectively: "I'm in mourning for my life....." Mame's big line is: "Life's a banquet, and some sonsabitch are out there starving...!"
So there you have it -- the two halves of the half-filled glass. The two basic ways of drinking your life. The yin and yang of our existence. As the great barker-in-the-sky might say: "Gather round, folks. You take your choices, you take your chances!"
I've known some of the actresses in town who played the role of Masha. Off-stage, none of them seemed like they quite fit the role. In the case of Mame, we were invited to an opening night in New York where we met Angela Lansbury. That night she very much seemed to fit the role. But the operative question has always been -- how would I fit these roles?
As a believer in the Judaic-Christian ethos, I expect I should reject Masha's worldview when she says later in the play, "Life is a tragedy full of joy." (My religion teaches the opposite). But as a believer I expect I should equally reject Mame's gutsy hedonism.
All this sorta clicked into place as I was scanning the birthday card aisles in our local supermarket. I'm sure you've noticed the same thing. Hallmark features certain age-stages: 16! 21! 40! 65! 70! 80! In our culture, each of these represents a major transition in our lives. (At least that's what our culture instructs us). However, some of us suspect the greatest transition of all is the one from the happy innocence of youth to the solemn embrace of age.
For that, there is no single year in our life or card on the shelf that defines this shift. For each of us it happens when it happens. Even when we often don't realize it until sometime later. One wonders at what point Masha became Masha and Mame became Mame....
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I'm not that familiar with Masha, but I relate to her theory more...unfortunately for me! I wish I DID have Mame's philosphy of life....gutsy hedonism sounds like a good idea (while controlled to some level) with all that's going on in our world right now. I wish there was a way we could be both a little selfish with ourselves, and still be a good person and helping others. Ah to dream....
ReplyDeleteAnd a good dream that is....a blend of Masha's hard self-realization plus Mame's gusty hedonism...usually everything good in life is mix of two opposites just enough to bring the pendulum's swing to the middle...if you can learn how to do that, maybe you can post your theory for the rest of us....!
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