our town

“…whoever makes haste with his feet misses the way.” (King Solomon)

In Thornton Wilder’s play, Our Town, one of the characters, Emily, dies.

Afterwards, Emily stands unseen in the cemetery among her deceased relatives and begs the Stage Manager to let her go back and live one more day. After much pleading, the Stage Manager relents and allows her to return to live one more day. She chooses her birthday.

Emily has discovered that she had taken so much of her life for granted and so she goes back to live it differently. And in those hours she comes to the unfortunate conclusion that lives are lived in the blurriness of a wasteful fog. Everyone seems to be in a hurry. Everyone seems to miss one another as they live their lives together. She goes through that day until she can’t take it anymore.

“In a loud voice to the stage manager.

Emily: I can’t. I can’t go on. It goes too fast. We don’t have time to look at one another.

She breaks down sobbing.

I didn’t realize. So all that was going on and we never noticed. Take me back—up the hill—to my grave. But first: Wait! One more look.

Good-by, Good-by, world. Good-by, Grover’s Corners…Mama and Papa. Good-by to clocks ticking…and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths…and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you.

She looks towards the stage manager and asks abruptly, through her tears:

Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?—every, every minute?

Stage Manager: No.

Pause.

The saints and poets, maybe—they do some.”

I want to be like the saints and poets. I want to see what / who is right in front of me and not take it for granted. I want to live more slowly. I want to live with depth.

—Don’t you?

Let us realize life while we live it–every, every minute.