Sunday, March 25, 2012

Meandering rivers, the echoes of the past and Don Corleone


The Godfather movies were one of the most successful sequels of all times and among my favorites. In 1990 Coppola and the cast reunited for the last Godfather III, 16 years after Godfather II. Many things were different since the first Godfather in 1972 and one big difference was that they were all stars now, rich and famous; and of course 16 years older... The movie shows a softer, tired Don Corleone, who wants to change his life track and switch to legitimate activities and most of all, to make sure that his kids (Copola's daughter plays the daughter of Corleone) will not repeat his mistakes...


But old rivalries try to drag him back to his sinful past, people cannot forget who he was and this shadow which was the result of his previous life will not let him change... The story has a tragic ending, his beloved daughter is shot in an attempt of his rivals to assassin him, and the movie ends with him recollecting all these tragic memories, seconds before he dies old and lonely in Sicily... The ruthless, unstoppable young Corleone destroyed the wise and regretful, older one, just because the former came first...

Our present mistakes will echo in the future and not only that... they will probably resonate. Like rivers which are initially flowing straight and suddenly a rock or softer soil at one side makes them turn... Once they start turning they cannot stop and they will form large meanders. This feedback and growth mechanism is everywhere in nature, from the smoke of the cigarette, the sand dunes and our lives. Small mistakes grow and suddenly cast shadows upon us and cause great pain and damage. What is interesting is that often we are not even able to feel these shadows and this probably the reason that psychologists will never be without job!
So it is not out of luck that I recalled today Don Corleone, since I watched Godfather III years ago. When I try to look around me I can see the meanders and I can even sense when the divergence occurred. We all do mistakes and one of the burdens of growing older is to the fact that somehow our mistakes have more impact upon us. So apart from avoiding making them as much as possible, I think that wisdom is a lot in being able to walk out of the shadows. Even though meanders make beautiful, mystical landscapes, they grow to the point that they are too big and eventually the flow breaks them and continues straight.
The question is if this will happen within a lifetime...
...and of course, what is …'straight'!

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