Sitting through The Sound of Music during an obligatory family movie night this Thanksgiving weekend. I'd watched it before some as a kid but now, y'all HOLY SHIT.
Naive protagonist is volun-told to leave their restrictive religious background to deal with the outside world. Shenanigans ensue. Protagonist has a fire-ice relationship with the One Person They Should Not Fall in Love with, but the two eventually find common ground. Big party scene featuring historic Dancing. Protagonist is confronted by a shady side character who points out the Impossible Relationship that is developing. Protagonist abandons love to run back to their extremely religious upbringing.
My daughter's school did "The Sound of Music" this year for their play; my daughter was Mother Abbess. Honestly, you don't expect this sort of thing to go past being a proud parent who might have to hear someone else's kid (natch) miss a note here and there, but this particular performance turned into an actual news story on account of how best to handle a play that deals with Nazi Germany where young ones are concerned. Literally four local news outlets, the regional paper, the local free news site, and a handful of other news outlets picked it up. I don't know if anyone was completely happy with the outcome--I wrote about it at some length on the Substack.
Tonight, though, I just want to lean in on the experience and something that's a touchstone for a lot of us. There are just a load of canonical songs in the musical; "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" is maybe the trickiest to sing. Peggy Wood is just amazing here. And I'm a proud parent for my daughter having done her best with it--and with the whole play.
At any cost is a shadow war cry. Cost Benefit analysis decides what to pursue & what to give up. Choose wisely
We all have heard & even used this phrase many times. But do we really mean it? are we ready to go to any extent to achieve a goal? are we ready to pay any price? are we so driven that we genuinely feel the benefit far outweighs the effort; & so we are ready to acquire/achieve something at any cost? Does the End indeed justify any Means? Genuine dilemma from times immemorial. Jim Rohn warns,…