Dia mundial da gentileza

Harold – Wow… that’s a…really good cookie.

So…When did you decide to become a Baker?

Ana – Oh. In college.

Harold – Like, “cooking college”?

Ana – No. I went to Harvard law.

Harold – Oh… oh. Geez. I… sorry. I just assumed… sorry.

Ana – No. It’s alright. I didn’t finish.

Harold – Did something happen?

Ana – Not really. I was… I was barely accepted. I mean, barely. The only reason they let me come was because of my essay. How I was going to make the world a better place with my degree. And I went there thinking…

Well, I went thinking that I might make a difference and uh… well… Harvard law has the smartest people in the world, people who will one day shape the earth, and it’s competitive and vicious and exhausting…

And I’d have to participate in these study sessions, classmates and I, all night long. Sometimes for a couple days straight. And so I could bake – cookies usually – so no one would go hungry while we worked. I’d bake all afternoon in the kitchen in the dorm before a big study session and write down what I was doing in one of those black Mead Journals they sell by the gross in the campus bookstore.

And I’d bring my little treats to the study groups… and people loved them. Oatmeal cookies. Peanut Butter bars. Chocolate chip and macadamia nut wedges. And everyone would eat and stay happy and study harder and do better on the tests and more people would come to the study groups and the study groups got better and I would make more snacks and try to find better recipes and the results would always get better and better and soon it was cheese cake and apricot croissants and mocha bars with almond glaze and lemon chiffon cakes with zesty peach icing and our study groups were famous around all Cambridge: not because we had the most copious notes, or the smartest people, but because we had the best snacks….

And at the end of the spring term… I had 27 study partners, eight black Mead journals filled with recipes… and a D average.

So I dropped out. Simply, without alarm, and without any regrets.

I just figured, if I was gonna make the world a better place… I’d do it with cookies. I’m glad you liked them.

Harold – I uh… I did. Thank you for forcing me to eat them.

Ana – You’re welcome.

Do filme Mais Estranho que a Ficcção, de Marc Forster

Being Earnest

“You know what it's like, Erica? It's like... It's like you are in a boat. You've got this one oar over here and it's just rowing and rowing and rowing. You know, furiously fueled by everyone else's expectations. And that's... that's never gonna stop, but it's kinda got you going around in circles. 'Cause if you want to move forward, then you also have to row with the oar that represents how you see yourself.

Learn to be what you are and learn to resign with good grace all that you are not.

Henri Frederic Amiel”

Michael Riley, o Dr. Tom da série canadense Being Erica

That's not me

Beach Boys

I had to prove that I could make it alone
But that's not me
I wanted to show how independent I'd grown now
But that's not me

I could try to be big in the eyes of the world
What matters to me is what I could be to just one girl

I'm a little bit scared
Cause I havent been home in a long time
You needed my love
And I know that I left at the wrong time

My folks when I wrote them
Told em what I was up to said that's not me

I went through all kinds of changes
Took a look at myself and said that's not me

I miss my pad and the places I've known
And every night as I lay there alone I will dream

I once had a dream
So I packed up and split for the city
I soon found out that my lonely life wasnt so pretty
Im glad I went now I'm that much more sure that were ready

I once had a dream
So I packed up and split for the city
I soon found out that my lonely life wasnt so pretty

From nine to five

I got what the world would call a normal, boring job. I wake up in the morning, get dressed, drive myself to work, put on a name tag, take my brain out of my skull, and place it in a drawer.

I spend the next nine hours smiling at people, pretending to be interested in their happiness, tolerating the company of my co-workers, staring at the clock.

At the end of the day, I take my name tag off, open the drawer, reach for my brain, plop it back inside, walk to the employee parking lot, drive myself home...

And it's really, really, really boring. And looks like I'm gonna be doing it for a long, long time..."

Mary-Louise Parker interpretando Nancy Botwin no seriado Weeds, de Jenji Kohan

Momento decisivo

Diane, it's - I don't know what time it is. Diane, I've been shot. I was out for a while and I can't reach my watch. The sky's getting light, I can hear birdsong. I'm lying on the floor of my room. There is a great deal of pain and a fair amount of blood. I seem to remember three shots, all to the midsection. I was wearing my vest last night, per Bureau regulations when undercover, but even so, if you can imagine someone dropping three bowling balls on your chest from a height of about nine feet you might begin to approximate the sensation.

On balance, though, being shot is not as bad as I had always imagined it might be. If you can manage to keep the fear from your mind. Then again, I suppose you could say that about almost anything in life: it's not so bad if you can keep the fear from your mind.

Kyle MacLachlan interpretando o agente Dale Cooper em Twin Peaks, de Mark Frost e David Lynch

No alarms and no surprises

- Um dia você ficará cego, como eu. Estará sentado num lugar qualquer, pequeno ponto perdido no nada, para sempre, no escuro, como eu. (Pausa)

Um dia você dirá, estou cansado, vou me sentar, e sentará. Então você dirá, tenho fome, vou me levantar e conseguir o que comer. Mas você não levantará. E você dirá, fiz mal em sentar, mas já que sentei, ficarei sentado mais um pouco, depois levanto e busco o que comer. (Pausa)

Ficará um tempo olhando a parede, então você dirá, vou fechar os olhos, cochilar talvez, depois vou me sentir melhor, e você os fechará. E quando reabrir os olhos, não haverá mais parede. (Pausa)

Estará rodeado pelo vazio do infinito, nem todos os mortos de todos os tempos, ainda que ressuscitassem, o preencheriam, e então você será como um pedregulho perdido na estepe. (Pausa)

Sim, um dia você saberá como é, será como eu, só que não terá ninguém, porque você não terá se apiedado de ninguém e não haverá mais ninguém de quem ter pena.

Hamm em “Fim de Partida”, de Samuel Beckett

Incertezas

- O que você faz na vida?

- Sou estivador.

- Não, falando sério.

- Estou falando sério.

- Não estou falando desse tipo de coisa. Qual é o seu verdadeiro interesse?

- Querida, se eu tivesse a resposta para essa pergunta, aposto que em meia hora já estaríamos os dois morrendo de tédio.

Richard Yates, em Revolutionary Road