All writers in Op Ed are here to inform and acknowledge issues of importance to our communities, however these writings represent the views and opinions of the authors and not necessarily of The Advertiser. 

By Blaney Pridgen

I recently enjoyed the Oscar nominated movie, “JoJo Rabbit”.  It’s a story about a boy and a very young woman who just barely survive WWII in Nazi Germany.  I won’t go into the details, other than to quote lines from a poem by Raine Mara Rilke, “Go the limits of your longing”, which came on the screen at the conclusion…

​Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.  

​Just keep going.  No feeling is final.  

That’s the gist of the move woven into the narrative with horror, humor, and heart-warming moments pleasantly devoid of sentimentality and preachiness.  

As the new year begins like a cactus flower, the hope of beauty in an arid world, the poet promises that we need not become overwhelmed by pain.  We can keep faith in the passage of terrible times if we choose to.  Love can actually survive in the midst of misery and hopelessness.  I have kind-of-sort-of known that to be true most of my life, so it was good to experience that in a film that is truly art beyond mere entertainment.

Random bad things happen to somewhat good people all of the time and time heals some of those things a little bit but not entirely.  That’s why it is important to remember that “no feeling is final”.  What ever feelings we may have during 2023, they need not become final in the ossifications called prejudice, cynicism, bitterness, remorse, rigid opinions, and all other idolatries of the affections.  Feelings oscillate, emotions swing to and fro, opinions waiver.  They don’t necessarily come down from Mount Sinai.  A feeling shall pass and that’s good to know, even if it comes back again.  And anyhow, who wants to be trapped in their feelings?  

Patience, endurance, and calm expectancy regardless of our feelings are very helpful qualities we might cultivate.  But don’t let me become the preacher, fiddling, and meddling with our feelings.  It’s just a good thing to know that one can get by and prevail. That’s my wish for the new year:  Get By and Prevail!  Of course, this wish is bound up in my feelings which will surely change, hopefully.