Courage is a Rarity

We are doing Pygmalion this semester. Which brought back fond memories of 'My Fair Lady'. And when you think of that movie, you have to remember how exquisitely beautiful Audrey Hepburn was. I was reading her Wikipedia page where I saw that she was trained in ballet, and she danced to raise money for the Dutch resistance (against the Nazis) and also occasionally acted as a courier for them, delivering messages and packages. She was no more than 15 or 16. So much courage. And she was the daughter of Nazi sympathisers.
It's truly one thing to say you feel empathy and just talk about it and it's another thing to actually get up and do something about it. Its a completely different thing to try to make a difference. All of us hate the Taliban, we hate the ISIS, we hate child labour, but how many of us have the courage that Malala Yousufzai or Kailash Satyarthi do? It's all well and good to talk about the tragedy and go, "tch tch" with pity. We just can't take a stand, can we? We are so frightened that our lives and our lifestyles might be harmed in some way. We are so afraid that something might happen to us, as is happening to the world around us. The fact that these atrocities are happening in the world around us, to our own species, inflicted by our own species eludes us. How can we stand by and watch people who aren't so different from us, people with families, people with responsibilties get hurt and tortured? How can we watch a child's future get destroyed? How are we human if the instinct to protect our own kind is weaker than our fear of something untoward happening to us? How is it it that 99% of us don't have the courage to stand up for what's right, but by some miracle, there is that tiny fraction of society that still believes in humanity and had the courage to speak their mind and do what they said they would?

Roman Holiday

As I sat at the dining table with my mom, I expressed my desire to watch a sweet, romantic film. My mom suggested 'Roman Holiday'. Even though I've watched it quite a few times, I can't help but love Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. A princess who's getting her first taste of freedom in Rome, and a journalist who happens to come across her as he goes home and stands a chance to write the story of a lifetime.
But when my mom suggested we watch it, I said that I wished the ending was different. Every time I watched it, I prayed that the ending would be different. (Spoiler alert ahead)
She goes back to her duties. Even though she would love to run away with him, she decides to do the honourable thing by fulfilling her duty towards her country. And him? He doesn't publish the story at all. The first time I watched it, I was so upset that they didn't end up together and I thought to myself, "Can't she be with him and still carry out her duties?" If only life were that simple. My mother said that it was the perfect love story. They'd never ever see each other's faults. That one perfect day would forever remain with them. Fairy tales end when they do because that's when the real problems begin. This way, they'll be each other's biggest 'what-ifs'. Even though they haven't ridden off into the sunset, they have their memories. Memories of that first, perfect, pure love. And nothing and nobody can change the way they felt about each other at that moment.

Sure, if it was a Bollywood movie, it would have ended with them in each other's arms; otherwise, the audience might have killed the makers of the film. But by ending it in this manner, you're simultaneously left with moist eyes and a smile. Tears for the fact that they will never see each other again and a smile for the fact that the time that they spent together is something that no one can forget. Not them, not us. And after all, who doesn't love Audrey Hepburn? I, for one, would love to look like her. That gorgeous smile, those innocent eyes, that slender frame and her graceful movement. She's just lovely. Almost as if she was born to be a princess. And although I'll always associate Gregory Peck with Atticus Finch of 'To Kill A Mockingbird', he's incredibly charming and lovable as the journalist. And their love story? Its one for the ages.