All That Matters
Aug 1st, 2017 by Kimberly
Today begins a new series in Kimberlydom, just right for the insecure writer (and insecure everything-else) – the inspiring TV quote. I love counter-intuitiveness of this idea. We writers brag about the times we turn the television off, because TV is the place many of us go when we don’t want to think. But life is hard, we have too much going on and some times we just need to sit back and veg in front of the screen for a while, thanks very much. Every now and again, though, something sneaks in that sticks with you.
“When nothing we do matters, all that matters is what we do.”
-Angel, in Angel
I didn’t start watching Angel until long after it was actually off the air, and because of a strange storyline in the fourth or fifth season, it took me a while to get through the whole thing, but I loved how it wrapped up. In the final episode, the characters discuss whether there’s any pointing in trying to do the right thing, since it probably won’t change anything long term. The title character, a vampire with a soul (it’s the only vampire thing I got into, I swear), comes up with this gem of philosophy.
In our current days, it often seems like there are no consequences for the rich and powerful or even for the school bully who delights in making everyone else miserable. Does it matter if we do the right thing, if we are kind to people, if it will gain us nothing? Should we show compassion to people who may never show any to us?
Yes. Maybe we can’t affect the outcome, but we can always determine how we play the game. More than our circumstances or our fortunes, our choices make us who we are.
Kimberly chooses kindness. And peanut butter. Peanut butter-flavored kindness, dipped in chocolate.
I don’t think I ever watched all of Angel, even though we own the DVD set . . . But that is a great quote, and true.