Screen Time In Others' Movies

Do you ever consider the true impact you have on the lives of those around you? Your lovers, your 'best friends,' your co-workers, your family, your digitally-based friends, etc? If each of these people were to have a movie made on their lives, how much screen time would you have? Any?

I sometimes find myself thinking about this and it makes me reassess the value I perceive I have in the lives of those close to me. One's ego is quick to exclaim, "I'll have a ton of screen time with X, Y, & Z"...but how accurate is that? The reality is humbling. And it goes both ways. Who will have leading roles in your movie? For some, whom I'd like to give tons of screen time, in reality would have little, though my internal struggles with those relationships is another story.

The people may not know themselves how much screen time they would give you, but after assessing it, their appreciation (or disregard) for you will shift. As a person with no regular fixtures in my physical life, my movie may be more desolate (like the movie I Am Legend), but with tons of brief cameos.

This subject is a spin off of that one question that surfaces every time we get to a point in our lives when everything seems hopeless. The lonelier times. If I were to die, would anyone care? Would the world change or even notice? If those answers are "no," then what is the point? Some people may be sad at first, but for how long? In these negative times we are simply feeding ourselves negative answers. We need to look outward for the true answers. A friend of mine died a few years ago and while I was very sad initially, eventually life went on as usual. But even to this day, few days go by where he (or a memory or relationship related to him)doesn't cross my mind.

Every day we impact those around us in some way...as hard as that is to believe. We have a certain degree of control there too. Once we become conscious of our impact, we can then alter our roles in the lives of those around us. And I say: go for it! Push for more screen time in the movies of those you love.

Speaking of love (you knew I was going to go there), this is the most significant role in each of our respective movies. This is the co-starring role with the most screen time. This role can also influence the type of movie representing your life (depending on that character), from a drama to a romance...to even a horror! It seems like we spend our whole lives looking for the co-star. We audition many for the role, but finding the right person can seem hopeless at times...or maybe you found them, but they have no interest in your low-budget art house flick. They are looking for something with a bigger budget, something glamourous, something violent and/or dramatic...or maybe something cheesy and predictable. Meanwhile, that role stays un-casted...and thus your movie is incomplete.

Will reading this inspire you to evaluate your relationships and the value of each of those people in your life? Probably not now, maybe never. But when existentially thinking about your life, the choices you made, the people in it, and how you treated them, humor me and give it a shot. Let's work on having more screen time in each other's lives.

xoxo