There will come a day

The movie Contact (from 1997) was so very good for several reasons.  First, it was good entertainment.  It certainly helped you escape from the day-to-day grind.  Second, it had merit literarily.  One of the more uncommon ways to write character development is to have a "crossover effect between two characters.  The scientist and the man of the cloth in this film certainly followed lines of development that made their points of view trade places during the course of the movie.  The conflict developed in the plot occurred with different characters, not just the two main characters.  So, it was a more complex plot than merely having two characters or two forces that merely had many obstacles to overcome before one force beat the other or one character won over the other.  Third, The climax was both the culmination and the catalyst for change at the same time.  That is a really difficult feat.  The culmination of the plot was the catalyst for two characters to completely change their points of view.  Job well done.  Other reasons exist to like this movie.  It"s very symbolic of life, for one, and contains a good starting point to discuss religion versus science, for another.

The one scene that captures the essence of two principles close to my heart is the scene in which Jody Foster's character finally hears the signal from space she has constructed her whole professional work around.  She had gone to great lengths to set up arrays of satellite dishes to listen to signals from space hoping against hope to be the first one to capture a message from extraterrestrial life.  All of her efforts had failed.  Immediately before the video begins, she is lying on the hood of her car at sunset with her earphones on, as she had done on hundreds of other occasions, listening to static while falling asleep.

This clip represents so much.  First and foremost, it represents what our parents told us about our dreams, what Churchill is often quoted as saying to the British on some of their darkest days - never, never, never give up.  That is one of life's greatest lessons.  Second, it symbolizes what our preparation does for us in our chosen fields.  We prepare, but often cannot use all of our preparation in our daily affairs.  However, there will come a day - a moment in time when we realize that we have to summon our array of knowledge to accomplish a goal, to rise to an occasion, or like the main character here, swing into action to bring all of our training to bear on the moment we have been waiting for all of our lives.

It's a beautiful thing when such a moment happens in our lives.  More than beautiful, really.  It's magnificent and monumental.  It's what we live for.