A Personal Day

I’ve started writing this several times, and each time I’ve gotten diverted. Originally, I wrote about our troops in Iraq and the fact that we had sent along DVDs for the holidays, but I had a hard time equating our DVD donation with them putting their lives on the line every day. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of them as we hope for peace in 2007.

Another post idea had to do with New Year’s resolutions and imagination, but that will wait until Friday, because when I was in the midst of writing (about five minutes ago) I saw on Yahoo! that former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek had passed away. My father died in 1986, and in 1987, the Jerusalem Film Festival was dedicated to him. I attended the festival, and the opening night screening was of Renen Schorr’s Late Summer Blues. The movie was very well received and became something of a cult classic in Israel. It was an emotional movie about high schoolers going off to war, and Mayor Kollek had to leave in the middle because it hit too close to home. I met him after the screening for nothing more than an exchange of greetings, but the moment has stayed with me for nearly twenty years. My thoughts are with his family tonight.

I also talked to my brother a little bit ago. President Ford was an Eagle Scout, and his family hoped that Scouts would attend his funeral. My brother led a troop of Eagle Scouts at President Ford’s memorial service at the National Cathedral today. They had to get up at 3:30 in the morning to get there, go through security, and be seated before the service began, but he said the experience was unforgettable. I admit I’m a bit envious.

Not much about movies in here today but lots of memories that will never be forgotten, and I guess in many ways that’s what the movies are all about.