February 21: Rosebud. One word. One image. One fleeting moment.Yet it is the one that may define a person, a life, a direction and haunt a person for a lifetime.
Maybe that is why the movie classic Citizen Kane has always been a favorite of mine. The last word of a dying man is rosedud. The story is built around trying to uncover the meaning of that last thought. Was it a person, a town, an object, a what.
No one learns what it is other than the movie audience until the last few scenes, as rosedud goes up in flames. Even then it is a fleeting scene…a subtle scene. How can a person really be explained by one last word or one particular moment.
Can we be defined by one event. One moment in our lives. Do we have the capacity to live the larger story. Recognize the importance of that one moment but then push through it to move forward with the rest of the story.
Whether a personal mistake or a failing by another, can we let go of the mistake, can we release the other through forgiveness. Can we move past the error, learn and live a life in a broader context. Can all the efforts, overcoming obstacles, developing as a person over a lifetime, be summarized by one error, one long ago miscalculation. I like to think not.
Take the measure of a person by the long view. Take the measure of yourself by the long view. Give yourself and others a break. Have compassion for the decisions made and the inherent flaws in us all and see the grander book that can be written.
We may all have a rosebud somewhere in our story. But just as in Citizen Kane it can not be the definition of a person…maybe just one piece in the huge jigsaw puzzle that makes up the picture of our lives. It is an ageless opportunity to let go and move on.