A Post About Pants

I just watched "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" on video. Don’t get me wrong, my mom wanted to watch it, I just “watched along”. Hehe. Spare me my dignity please. Not that there’s anything wrong with it… I AM very much secure with my manhood, thank you very much. A movie that has to do with “sisterhood” and “pants” doesn’t detract the least bit from one’s masculinity, as some of you may have (wrongly) speculated. Haha. Okay enough of the disclaimers…

The story was about close friends, all female teenagers, moving through different life experiences as they go on their individual summer vacations. They communicated through letters and air-mailing each other a pair of jeans (yes… jeans!) that they described as “magical”, because it fit all of them perfectly. (Now how did that happen?? Damn, those special effects were GOOD!) They each had the jeans for one week, and a bevy of interesting stuff happened while they were wearing it. The story dealt with broken families, separated parents, puppy love, lustful attraction, death at a young age, building relationships, seeing beneath the surface, etc. It was a real tear-jerker (for the ladies I presume… coz we “real men” don’t cry, haha). In other words, the movie tried to bring out the “little girl” in all of us. I’m not saying this applied to me though… I was merely a non-participating spectator. The little girl inside of me was NOT permitted to come out. Haha. Whew…

Anyways, as with any piece of media (ie. paintings, music, books, etc.), it got me thinking. I thought about friendships, our relationships with other people. I have always been ideal about this concept and I hold the word “friend” in the greatest esteem. I’ve always tried going to the extreme of really treasuring all my friendships and my relationships to the best of my abilities. But sometimes, a sad reality we all can’t escape from is this: People will let you down, time and again. Why? Because people are just people. People are human. Nobody’s perfect, be it a friend, a lover, even your family members. All of us, at some point in our life, will let somebody down, and will also be let down by someone, whether we like it or not. Even your best and closest friend in the whole world, who you can’t even imagine inflicting you with the least bit amount of hurt, can sometimes leave you hanging in the air with nothing but yourself to grab on to. My point? Each relationship in life we choose to go into is a risk. We risk opening ourselves up, exposing ourselves to hurt, pain, and disappointment. Why then, we ask, do we keep on doing it? Because in every risk we take, we know there is a greater reward waiting for us at the end: the chance at a great relationship, a true friendship, even true love (arguably the most rewarding form of human emotion). I would go as far to conclude that all the hurt, pain, and misery we all feel (at one time or another), is a necessary prerequisite for us to really be able to appreciate true happiness. And I don’t mean the kind of happiness we often describe as “a fleeting moment of joy”, but rather, a state of perfection, pure bliss, ecstatic euphoria, where one could close his eyes, smile and say to himself “I could really die right now. My life is complete.”

Opening yourself up to people in friendships and relationships is a huge risk, but it’s a risk well worth taking. Life is too short and too important to spend trying to protect yourself from hurt, and in the process, preventing the various miracles of life from happening. Wait, all this from a tear-jerking girly movie which dealt with “sisterhood” and “pants”?? Let us never underestimate the power of motion picture. A book could only go as far as your imagination, but movies? Movies can do wonders for the imagination-impaired, and can serve as an intellectual equalizer of sorts. All in all (and much to my own surprise), I liked the movie. It had that feel-good Disney-ish effect which, when watched at precisely the right time and right state of mind, can really be a refreshing (rejuvenating) experience.

Okay then! I really have to stop this now. I can already hear my inner monologue going: “’Argh…’Little girl’ feeling overwhelming…Must NOT let her out, at all costs…these are NOT tears, there’s just something in my eye…Help me…MUST watch sports…NOW!”. Hehehe. Somebody get me a beer…