A few evening’s ago, my son and I set out to see if we could find a new path along the Huron River. By the time we were done, we’d walked eight miles, and found some incredible trails that we’d never before knew existed. The shot above is from one of those trails. Everywhere we looked, there were goldfinches and wildflowers. And, at some point along the trial, we came face to face with an adorable little deer, absolutely making Arlo’s day. [The deer didn’t run away from us, but actually took a few steps toward us, and ended up just watching us for several minutes from a distance of about twenty feet.] Arlo, who’s not usually one to comment on how beautiful things are, actually said something to the effect of, “This is really beautiful, Dad.” This alone would probably be worth posting, as it was one of happiest moments I’ve had since the onset of the pandemic. That’s not why I’m posting tonight, though. I’m posting right now because Arlo, when taking in this moment of absolute beauty, made the connection to the scene in 1973’s dystopian classic Soylent Green, in which the character of Sol Roth, played by the incredible Edward G. Robinson, chooses to end his own life in a corporate euthanasia center.
Here, if you’ve never seen it before, is the scene in question. This, by the way, was Robinson’s last role. He was dying of cancer during the making of the film, and would die just two months after production wrapped. The film itself doesn’t hold up so well, but Robinson’s death scene remains incredibly poignant. The expressions on his face as he takes in the projected panoramic scenes of natural beauty from a long forgotten time on earth, when there were still flowers, birds and deer, never fails to draw me in. And apparently the scene has the same effect on Arlo. I can’t tell you how happy it made me when he, standing in this field of flowers, beneath a bright blue sky, staring into the eyes of a deer, said that it brought to mind the death of “that old guy in the movie where the stuff was made from people.” I could not have been more proud.
9 Comments
57% of Republicans think Soylent Green taste like chicken.
My wife is supposed to start teaching tomorrow. Today was supposed to have a campus wide zoom convocation ceremony today. Oh well, another techno failure. You would almost think we live in one of those 2nd or 3rd world failed states.
Forgot to post the link
https://9to5mac.com/2020/08/24/zoom-outage-us-uk/
That’s the way to go, looking at the beauty of the world under a warm blanket while listening to classical music. If not for then being ground up into hamburger, it would be great.
Just curious, are there any Biden Republicans who visit this site? Ralph Emanuel and Larry Summers are two of uncle Joes close advisors. They ate making it very clear they do not want my vote. All those Biden Republicans are going to win the election for Joe they say.
Three of our plutocrats have accumulated another 53 billion dollars last week. There is a bi-partisan agreement to transfer as much wealth as possible to the supermen who own our economy. why are they always men Lynne?
Just saw that EMU is delaying move in by three weeks and starting the semester 100% virtual. At first I thought, must be a bunch of Democratic regents trying to make our Leader look bad, but then I looked.
Of the 8 Regents, six were appointed by Snyder—they must be those Biden Republicans Ive heard about.
I know this is more of that Chinese science, but they ain’t commies, yet. Which must be why it is ok for MSM to report. They claim a case of second reinfection 4 1/2 months after recovery from first infection.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/24/world/covid-19-coronavirus.html
I thought it was a beautiful scene too. Wish we had such a service.
Soylent Green takes place in 2022. We’re almost there.