Needs and Interests

The movie The Wrestler was a tough one to watch. Mickey Rourke plays a lovable professional wrestler who has absolutely sacrificed everything to do the only thing he seems genuinely interested in doing. Wrestle. It is intuitively obvious to the casual observer that he could be so much more. He could be the best father, the best friend, and the best deli counter guy anywhere. He doesn't realize how brilliant he is and could be in these roles because he only cares about the wrestling.

I had a tough time digesting this movie because Randy the Ram makes such wrong choices and doesn't see the beauty of life all around him. I couldn't find much to redeem it for me.

I got some insight driving my high school freshman daughter to school. A story came across the radio about a middle age woman who was arrested for robbing a bank. She robbed the bank because, "It was something that was on my bucket list," she said. Something that she just wanted to do before she died. Rob a bank.

How stupid can you be, I commentated.

Well, my daughter said, at least she did what she wanted to do.

So, there was something redeeming about Mickey Rourke's character in The Wrestler after all.

At least he did what he wanted to do.

Maybe that's why the movie got to me so.

Am I doing what I want to do enough?

And the people we serve: do we find ourselves more comfortable trying to fill their needs or at least what we think of as their needs rather than discovering their interests?

Do we know what they want to do?

At least we could do that.