Music Montage

I was watching Community recently and I was struck by how much Abed refers to life as a movie. We watch the show, smile and laugh because we think he is silly for trying so hard to fit life into a movie script. It was until this morning that I realized how I wish it could be true.

When we watch movies about doing difficult things, whether it be playing on a crappy sports team, teaching in an inner city school, living in a dangerous community, evangelizing to our dear friends, starting our first year of college - the hard part seems to only last for an hour. Thing start out fine, then get difficult and then after a music montage - the guy runs to the girl, the teacher figures out how to make her class love her with a powerful speech, the sports team finds that player to inspire everyone else, or Jeff makes a speech to the study group to wrap up the episode.

But there is no music montage in life. The hard stuff does not go away in an hour. It remains for days, weeks, months, or maybe even years. And it doesn't happen in an instant. It is frustrating to know that and cliche to say it. When things are hard we have endure the pain and the frustration. Things may not be resolved in a manner of moments. There may not even be a perfect solution and my "fix it now" mentality  is often challenged. I want the solutions to my problems, like they do in the movies. I need my speech maker to make the speech that magically makes my students behave. But in real schools - no amount of powerful speeches changes a whole classes mind. 

No, there is not no music montage in life. It is often very silent.