Demented and sad.... But social.

It's considered one of the classic movies of my generation; a movie that apparently every one can relate to because every one fits in to one of the categories -- a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal.

And of course I know that all of you know exactly what movie I am talking about -- in fact, knew just from the title of the post.




Yes, The Breakfast Club.  

How many quotes can you immediately start rattling off? I'm betting quite a few. 

Of course, the classic quote, the best quote in my humble opinion (yeah, right, I know -- when am I ever humble...), is the last lines of the movie:

You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain... ...and an athlete... ...and a basket case... ...a princess... ...and a criminal.

A classic scene, which can be seen here.

And the reason why the movie is a classic is that this is not true simply in high school. Even as adults, look around you -- certainly you are surrounded by a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and even a criminal.  (Though perhaps in the interest of not being surrounded by actual criminality, we can use the term "rebel" as adults.)

It may take a minute to think of who fits each category (and yes, if you're in need, simply by knowing me/reading my blog posts, I can provide you with a basket case), but I am positive that you will. In fact, you will probably think of many people who qualify in each category -- I know I did.

But the really fun thing is understanding the full sense of that last line. That "each one of us is..." For we are, aren't we? A part of us -- no matter how small -- is each one of those things. We certainly may be more one of them than another -- needless to say, I'm aware that I am more basket case than anything else -- but we are certainly still all of them.

The question is -- who cares? Does it even matter....

The answer is -- always. In all senses.

We are not complete if we sacrifice one portion of our selves -- of our personalities, of our souls -- in favor of another. Yes, this does come back in many ways to the Socratic idea of an unexamined life is not worth living. It mostly comes back though to the idea of being a complete being. To understand how much more interesting we are -- and how much more interesting our life will be -- if we are willing to embrace all of our selves.

Now this does not mean to run out and do something criminal. Nor that you need to run out and buy a tiara. Or that you need to try to win a gold medal. Or even that you have to be brilliant. It does help in surviving life though to be a basket case. Just sayin'....

What it does mean is finding and nurturing those characteristics in order to discover new things about yourself. After all, it may just be fun, even (shock, horror!) educational. And who knows -- maybe you'll find your own breakfast club, at least in a totally crazy multiple personality just-because-you're-paranoid-doesn't-mean-you're-not-being-followed sense.

And that is always fun.