I have been watching Spanish telenovelas for years and one of the big differences between them and their US counterpart is that the cast in telenovelas seem to be experts in shedding tears! It is impossible to find an episode where somebody is not crying over something! The actors and actresses who play in these telenovelas are either very talented in acting or they have discovered a way to produce fake tears on demand! Surprisingly, they always look so convincing too.
Nevertheless, I believe most of us have shed a tear or two over the years while watching a movie which truly had touched our hearts. I have been in such a situation many times, however, never while watching a telenovela, until last night. In the episode I watched last night, one of the protagonists died of cancer. She was a young woman, not much older than Shahdi, who had recently married the love of her life knowing that she would not be able to enjoy a long marriage and bear any children. Therefore, she and her husband had tried to live life fully and love each other intensely during the few months she had left. And, they did just that. They showered one another with love and tenderness until the very end when she took her last breath in the loving arms of her husband. The cast of this telenovela deserves kudos for having delivered such a moving and convincing scene of love, heartache, sadness, grief, helplessness, and farewell displayed by the young lady's husband, mother, sister, grandmother, and friends. I have to admit that for the first time ever, while watching a telenovela, I broke down and sobbed alongside the actors.
This fictional event touched my heart profoundly because it reminded me of my Shahdi. The end result of suicide or terminal illness is death; however, there is a vast difference between how these tragedies unfold and how they affect the surviving family members and friends. Last night, I watched how the young woman summoned each of her family members to her bed so that they could exchange farewells and last hugs and kisses before her final journey. She wished to depart in peace. When she took her last breath, she was surrounded by all of her loved ones, and those loving eyes and souls had congregated and were focused on her face as she was struggling to breathe. She left while being wrapped completely in love and affection, knowing how much she was adored, appreciated, and missed.
As I was watching this scene, the entire time I was thinking of Shahdi. My beautiful daughter had nobody (but Toby) by her side when she took her last breath. Her family and friends were caught off guard by her unexpected death and never had the opportunity to say farewell to her and to tell her how much she was loved, appreciated, and valued. Nobody was there to hold her hand, or to give her a tight loving embrace for one last time. I did hold her beautiful hands later, but when it was too late, when the flow of blood had already ceased in her veins.
Suicide is devastating from every angle it is analyzed. I simply hope young people would seek help as soon as they start thinking of suicide as a viable option for dealing with their problems, and I also hope no family suffers from it as we have. Death awaits all of us; it is inevitable, but why give up life while we are lucky to have it?
Wish everybody a long, healthy, prosperous and fulfilling life.
No comments:
Post a Comment