Queen Latifah

Ok, so I adore Queen Latifah and I usually love her movies. However, the previews for the new one - i forget the name - look really really terrible. I absolutely hate movies based on the premise "your life is ending so what will change and what does this teach you about your own life." People are supposed to come away from these movies feeling the "carpe diem" mentality and, inspired, start living as if there is no tomorrow.

We don't live as though there's no tomorrow because the reality is there IS a tomorrow. And if there's not, most of us don't know it. Now some people DO get to know that they are dying and can live that way, but that doesn't mean the rest of us should live that way, too.

Mother Theresa said, "if the world was ending, who would you call, what would you say, and why are you waiting?" Now, that philosophy is ok with me. She doesn't advocate radically changing your life, taking major risks, and searching for elusive happiness in ridiculous ways. And it's an interesting concept to think about, though the answer is probably the same for most people - as proof by 9/11, most people merely call their families to say they love them.

Honestly, if the world was ending, I doubt I'd call anyone. Basically, at the end of the world, supposedly everyone will sort of be separated into Heaven and Hell - let's pretend I'm going to heaven. Anyone I would have called before Armaggedon who got into Heaven would just catch up with me there, no phone necessary. And suppose that the people I would call, um, didn't get into heaven - would I want it to be on record that I was chatting with the condemned right before Judgement? That wouldn't be very good.

To me, it makes much more sense to use your last moments on earth to enjoy the things that wouldn't exist in heaven - ie, 'fleshly pleasures.' Still, this would usually mean enjoying some deadly sin right before Judgement which is also not good. Hmmmm.