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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Blanche DuBois

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Sometimes I feel like Blanche DuBois in Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire when Blanche is led off to a mental hospital by a matron and a kind-hearted doctor. After a brief struggle followed by the administration of a sedative, Blanche smilingly acquiesces as she devolves into her fantasy life, addressing the doctor with the most famous and poignant line in the play:

'I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.'

Thank goodness that strangers can be occasionally kind.  It is one of the great things about living in the South.  We are so often taught to be hospitable that it eventually wears off on most of us and being kind comes as second nature.  So commit a random act of kindness today and make someone’s life a little better for just a moment at least.

(Yes, I realize that this message is not in the context of the play in the least, but it is one of my favorite lines in any movie or play.)

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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 14, 2010 at 2:23 PM

    I believe strangers are kind more often than not. Our press corps is so busy fueling the fears that every stranger is a bad person that we forget that times are safer now than in the 70's and 80's when I was growing up. It just seems like sometimes we forget that yes, most of us were raised to be polite, kind, and helpful to others. Thankfully, in my experience at least, most of us are.
    Peace <3
    Jay

    ReplyDelete
  2. JoeNovember 14, 2010 at 4:12 PM

    Jay, you are absolutely right. It's only the impolite that get noticed, and too often the polite that get run over and left behind.

    ReplyDelete

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