Sep 22, 2011

What Is That? (video)

What Is That?


This is not a particularly Jewish video, but the message seems appropriate..

8 comments:

  1. Is the message that once you hit a certain age you can act like a three-year-old and expect it to be endearing? I hope none of my children regress like that.

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  2. are you serious? i'm going to assume that you are joking....

    i think the message is that (hopefully) parents inately show their children love, affection and patience even when it might be hard to do so....in turn, children need to do the same for their parents.

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  3. yoni - welcome back.

    I assumed he was not doing it intentionally to teach his son a lesson. I figured he had partially lost his mind. When he taught his son that lesson, he seemed pretty sharp. That seemed strange. The point of loving and caring kindness and patience was still nice.

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  4. MrsRBS,

    I don't know if you know me, but that's a reasonable assumption with me. However, in this case I'm being serious. Having patience with children is a wonderful and necessary thing, as is having patience with adults. But this film seems to be advocating having patience with adults who deliberately act like children.

    The film is from Greece, which is (or was very recently; I haven't been following lately) on the verge of economic collapse, partially due to rampant socialism and an overall sense of entitlement. Just saying.

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    Rafi,

    Hi. Good to be back. I don't think the father is losing his mind. He seems to be making a deliberate point.

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  5. ummm. ok. what does the economic situation in Greece have to do with anything?

    (and Im saying that as someone very well aware of the situation and the evils of socialism)

    anyhow, it doesnt really matter. I found myself shedding a tear and getting a lump in my throat, so irregardless of nationality this reminded me of my humanity for a minute today...and thats a good thing.

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  6. MrsRBS,

    I was just noting the coincidence of a film celebrating adults acting like children being made in the same country where such an attitude on a mass scale contributed to economic ruin.

    I think that the video would have been a lot less emotionally charged if they had selected different background music or none at all (I automatically filtered it out when I watched it).

    I think the part of people's humanity that the film brings out is how easy it is for us to be manipulated by simple things (for example by the type of music, the old man, the son looking upset, the hugging at the end, the bird, etc.). Strip all that away, and you're left with a story of an older man acting in a such a way as to annoy his son, and then shaming him by pointing out that he (the son) used to act the same way when he was three years old and the father didn't get annoyed due to his innocence.

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  7. well, i give up.

    you and I have different brains, in fact you sound just like my husband, he would probably respond to the video in the same way you did.

    :)

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  8. I have a 90 year old mother in law who exhibits the exact characteristics as shown on this video. In a 10 minute period she can ask "what day is it?" 15-20 times. At first we thought it was a plea for attention, but now realise it is simply her mind shrinking. However, if we don't answer kindly, something can trigger her defence mechanism and she will respond perfectly lucidly, indicating her upset. The 2 contradictory states do exist side by side.

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