Fetalvero: Using the 'bucket list' today

Noemi C. Fetalvero
Two empty bottles

AT THE breakfast table, my son, my daughter-in-law and I hold three different coffee mugs—each bearing different zodiac signs if only to remind us at the start of the day we have to make an effort to adjust to our different personalities.

The movie The Bucket List, which starred Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, clearly demonstrates the contrast between two personalities who meet as strangers and yet at some point in their short association develop a beautiful friendship.

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Jack plays the part of Edward Cole, a selfish and insensitive millionaire whose comment about visitors at the hospital—“Visitors kill hospital patients more than diseases”—gives us an idea of how eccentric he is.

Morgan, who plays Carter Chambers, struggles early in life and is forced to marry at a young age. He shows sensitivity and respect for others at the hospital room where both are confined as terminally ill patients.

While on remission from cancer, they decide to do what would be exactly on their “bucket list” (i.e. things to do before we die). They went skydiving, mountain climbing, engaged in car racing, visited foreign countries and shared family secrets.

In a letter to Edward, Carter wrote: “My pastor always says our lives are streams flowing into the same river toward whatever heaven lies in the mist beyond the falls.

Find the joy in your life. My dear friend, close your eyes and let the water take you home.”

In trying to convince Edward to be reconciled with his daughter whom he had not seen for years, Carter said if given the second chance, he would again try even if Edward took the initiative (i.e. Carter’s advise) as an encroachment to his private life.

In his eulogy for Carter, Edward said: “The last months of his life were the best months of my life. He saved my life and he knew it before I did. In the end I think it is safe to say that we brought some joy to one another’s lives.” Edward, in the final scene, reconciled with his daughter.

Life offers the joy of good relationships and it is for our taking. It is a good thought to fill our two empty bottles on this Lenten Season.