From Community, with Love

There‘s a scene in the TV show “Community” where a character tries to film another character for a short skit.

”Pretend you’re my father.”

”But I don’t want to be your father!”

”Perfect, you already know your lines.”

He holds the video camera tenderly, like it’s a bird with a broken wing. It doesn’t mean anything in particular, this scene: but it portrays how we carry our damage with us, how our pain comes up casually, in a conversation where it’s not necessary. It’s all we know.

I once wrote about love, how trauma touches the part of ourselves we call home. Perhaps the opposite is true too: when we are loved, we know our inherent worth. We are accepted for who we are. The camera might add ten pounds but it’s real, the film of what we’ve been through, the journey home.