It's Memorial Day, and while that is officially a day for remembering those who have been killed in battle, I find it important to remember all kinds of people, living and dead, whom we could not exist without. To that end, I just spent an hour watching a video of Oprah Winfrey's celebration of Legendary African American Women that she held last year at her home in Santa Barbara and that just ran on television last week.
I'm not black and I'm not a woman, but I sobbed through the whole show as I simply absorbed a small amount of the amazing energy that went into honoring those women. My life has certainly been transformed by the lives of those women that Oprah honored and simply sitting on the couch, sipping coffee, and watching the amazing event unfold served, as art should do at its best, to make me want to be a better, stronger, larger person.
THAT is what Memorial Day is really about... remembering each and every one of the people, male and female, young and old, who have made the world a place where you can live and explore and hope and dream.
Two movie quotes from Jack Nicholson come to mind:
The first from "The Witches of Eastwick" is one of my all time favorite quotes, "Look what human beings can do."
The other comes from "As Good As It Gets" when he says to Helen Hunt, "You make me want to be a better man."
I too am grateful for these women of such legendary stature... They indeed make me want to be a better man.
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