Did you happen to see the new show, Red Band Society, which premiered last Wednesday? For lack of anything better to watch I saw bits and pieces of it. It is about a group of young people dealing with terrible illnesses (cancer, failing hearts, eating disorders) on the pediatric floor of a Los Angeles hospital.
I can’t imagine that this show will last more than one season, if that. How long can you keep the same characters as patients? After all, hospitals kick you out just as fast as they can.
Two of the characters, Leo and Jordi, are fighting cancer. Leo has had a leg amputated and Jordi is facing the same operation. As the day of the procedure nears, Jordi is understandably apprehensive. He wonders what it will be like to live without part of his body. He wonders what he will be like.
In probably the best line of the show, Leo tells him “Your body isn't you. Your soul is you and they can never cut into your soul.”
The line hit home in a personal way. I am infertile. That statement is often used as a definition rather than a descriptor. But it is not who I am, it is just a little bit about my body. Nothing more, nothing less. What I do with it, how I react to it, that’s who I am.
AMDG
Yes! Our souls are not infertile, our bodies are. Such a good reminder!
ReplyDeleteI love that line as well...I like to say "I have IF"...because it is something I have...not what I am...I am so much more...a wife, aunt, friend, etc. IF is part of my body...but it can't cut my soul (even though some days my soul has felt pretty empty due to IF).
ReplyDeleteWhile I understand the point that you're getting at, I have to disagree at least a little. We are created beings, created both in body and soul, unlike angels who are entirely spiritual beings. If our bodies didn't matter at all, then doctrines such as the bodily Assumption of Mary into Heaven wouldn't matter, nor would there be a need for people's bodies to be resurrected on the last day. We aren't exclusively our body, but neither are we just our soul; both are part of who we are.
ReplyDeleteGood point. I suppose there was a lot more I could have and should have said. It was a much too hastily written post.
DeleteI watch the show but I missed that line. Beautiful thoughts on it!
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