Into The Woods....

Ahhh...how life imitiates art.  Or is it the other way around?

I can never remember.

In any case, today was a get stuff done day and while some it got done, I enjoyed a little background music in the form of Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods.  The entire play really throws the Grimm fairy tales for a loop when you consider the juxtapositionof Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, and the next door baker.

The entire play really makes me think about us as we chase things and opportunities.  As was said in the movie Love Affair and I paraphrase, "getting what you want isn't hard, it's wanting it after you get it."

The bakers wife and Cinderella oppositely yearn for the Prince and wonder if he is what she wants respectively.

However, I feel like if we go back to the first Act, where Little Red Riding Hood hasjust been rescued from the mouth of a wolf that this is much like life.

So we wait in the dark

Until someone sets us free,

And we're brought into the light,

And we're back at the start.

How many of us wait in the dark or even think we know where the light is and chase after it blindly?

I was recently asked for assistance by someone in EMS.  This person is chasing their dream, not living it.  They are still in paramedic school though and our educational system has failed them.

They are a good student, do not get me wrong.  The grades are there, the effort is there, but somewhere along the line they decided they could do everything by themselves.  I guess when they were in class we didn't teach the teamwork side of things.

I guess the music going and the emails going back and forth made me think about people who want to do things on their own and don't realize there is no problem asking for help.  This is a team based sport and their decision making made me think about Jack's mother's comment during the First Midnight scene in Into The Woods.

She said "Slotted spoons dont hold much soup..."  While I think we would all agree with that sentiment, I wonder how many of us are lost in the woods looking for a bowl of soup for their slotted spoon instead of the much more filling potato that is sitting in front of them.

Here's hoping we can all find our way out of the dark and into the light.