Film Trailer

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

It's the economy stupid!

It’s the economy stupid! Man, being what he is, always responds best when his economic back is to the wall: he neutralizes ethics, family loyalty and spiritual beliefs when faced with the bottom line.


Easter Sunday of Passover week, we've seen the Judeo-Christian ethic in full commercialized display. Broadcasting the Ten Commandments and Franco Ziffereli’s Jesus Series, networks have put family values up front and center.


The holidays always evoke underlying emotion for me and this year was no different. For many months I’ve avoided touching upon the deep memories that make up my core. I go through periods of protecting myself from these uncomfortable feelings. Yet the image of Charleton Heston as Moses returning from the mountain, a changed man, after experiencing the burning bush, moved me. It’s a movie I’ve seen many times, but this time I reacted to this biblical moment differently. The story being a metaphor for our own struggle to achieve freedom from our own bondages in life, I related it to my inner changes from the searing truths I experienced confronting mortality and death. For months I’ve been working and wrestling as to how I can transform my personal experiences and revelations in Dying to Live-the journey into a man’s open heart to the greater public good. Taking up this mission of service and bringing it forth in the world has been tough.


I saw a show recently that made the following claim:


In the next decade, the amount of people working until they reach the age of 70 will increase by two-thirds.


Why? Because the bottom line demands it. The global economic downturn is going to have far reaching effects. It requires that we remain healthier longer; taking care of our ailing spouses and parents while we all grapple with maintaining and improving the quality of our own lives. It does NOT mean that less individuals will get sick! After all, cancer, heart disease and chronic illnesses will not turn away just because people need to continue to make a living. It does NOT mean that family members won’t die. It just means that we’ll be busier keeping food on the table and paying for insurance while caring for each other and surviving the human condition.


With this knowledge comes strength. We must be prepared to ask ourselves the difficult eternal questions now, before we are confronted with these challenges. If we are our brother’s keeper, then we must be prepared emotionally and financially, in our hearts and in our minds, for the tests that will inevitably come. Of course,there is the risk that in asking these questions we may find tough answers, but from this growth will come.


Loyalty, love and respect. The old traditions will become the new reality. Someone in each family must initiate the process and lead.


Ben Mittleman
Ben@dyingtolivethemovie.com
www.dyingtolivethemovie.com