Sunday, August 01, 2021
Sunday Reflection: Everything is Everything
My favorite television show ever is probably The Sopranos (though if Spinal Tap had been given a variety show, that probably would have won out).
What I loved about the Sopranos was its willingness to let dialogue weave in and out over time, and the presence of silences. Sometimes there were moments that I still think about, and try to figure out.
The scene I remember most clearly came near the start of the sixth season of the show. Tony Soprano is in the hospital after nearly dying from a gunshot fired by his Uncle. While hospitalized he befriends two other patients. One is a rapper named Da Lux, who has been shot seven times. The other is a retired Bell Labs scientist named John Schwinn. The rapper was played by Lord Jamar of the group Brand Nubian. The retired scientist is played by legendary actor Hal Holbrook.
The three of them gather to watch a boxing match. Schwinn, who is nearing death, tells Tony that the boxers are actually the same thing. "Nothing is separate; everything is connected." Tony seems baffled, but the rapper seems to get it. "Everything is everything," he responds, nodding. (Perhaps not coincidentally, Brand Nubian's third album was titled "Everything is Everything).
There was something in that conversation that struck a chord with me. I have always sensed that if we are all products of the same God, we are all part of a whole. And those boxers-- without one another, they are not boxers. And those two things are connected; without one another, we are not of God. Creation is of more than just us.
To put it another way... we may just be leaves of grass in a green and verdant field. We are just leaves, yes, but we are what makes up that green and verdant field.
It is a thought that both humbles us and reveals our importance-- we are only part of a grand whole, but we are vital and essential and unique parts of a grand whole.
Wanna box?
