I Forgot My Mantra

Annie Hall and Valentines' Day: Perfect or Perverted?

Forget that Annie Hall is at the top of my favorite movie list; forget that I think Valentine's Day is a terrible waste of peoples' money and energy. The two are perfectly suited.

With love comes the end of love. All relationships end in one way or another, no matter the great times or lack of them. The whirlwind of romance gives way to sameness, boredom, comfort, and security. It all depends on how much you want those things. Are you a person who's addicted to rollercoasters, or do you prefer to keep your feet on the ground?

Why do we commit? Why don't we commit, even when we want to? And when we don't, what do we choose to take away from the experience: anything of value to remember with fondness, or lessons learned for the next time. The next time we're afraid will never happen...is that why we commit, even when we don't want to?

I love Annie because you get the whole package...the whirlwind and the boredom, the beginning and the end. It's not about boy gets girl, etc. Boy loses girl, but both go on to find new experiences. That's how his art works, and that's actually how life works as well.

Perfect.