My mother raised me with a love for the arts. When I was a mere one year old she took me to see the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast; this was the first musical of many. Throughout my life, I have been privileged to see renditions of the most famous musicals of all time, including West Side Story, Wicked, Hairspray, The Lion King, Mary Poppins, and The Phantom of the Opera, among others. I have a deep love and respect for the well-written scripts, the memorable music, and the actors' and actresses' talent.
Given such an upbringing, it was easy for me to decide to see BYU's production of The Count of Monte Cristo (click here to read about behind-the-scenes makeup and costuming). Based on the book by Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo tells the story of Frenchman Edmond Dantes, profiling his life as he deals with love, betrayal, revenge, and forgiveness.
I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, plot, music, and fight scenes, but I also took away a needed life lesson. In the end of the play, Dantes states, "Learn to live, and forgive." I have thought much on this phrase, and have come to internalize it. When we choose to be bitter and hold grudges, we are impeding our ability to live joyfully. On the other hand, when we forgive, our load becomes lighter, we become free, and our lives become more fulfilling.
I think there are points in our lives--great and small--where we all refuse to forgive. I am guilty of this; I even can think of a few examples in my life right now. I will follow Dantes' advice and choose to forgive these people within the next week. I know that it will free my soul and allow me to find greater joy in life.
This is a great post! I totally agree with you, and something that I have seen with most plays and great musical numbers is that there is always something taught, something that can be internalized like you did. It is a way, to me, that God speaks to us. Many times he will speak to us through people we trust, or things we like. It is not always in a booming voice from the heavens or even from the scriptures (which I fully agree can and will happen if read, but revelation is not limited to this). I have learned for myself how alleviating forgiveness is; just as you stated, forgiveness allows us to move on, to not linger on the pains of the past and to move forward. This reminds me of The Lion King when Simba is moping about his past and all the bad things that have happened. He couldn't forgive himself of something that he thought he caused. But Rafiki quite literally knocked some sense into Simba hitting Simba with a stick. When Simba gets mad Rafiki exclaims, "It doesn't matter! It is in the past!" How true this can be if we allow it to happen in our own lives. Letting go of the past allows for future growth.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your article, I loved it!