GONE FROM A BETTER PLACE
The Leftovers – A Eulogy
Article by Mary Gent
Last night I said goodbye to a story that has meant more to me than many realistic moments in my life. When art elevates you into a place that is safer than your own world, it has done more than it’s job. It has transcended the idea of art. It has moved your soul. Shown you pain. Allowed the tears to wash across a smile. Redemption. Loss. Anger. Denial. Joy. When art can gather all the elements of the human condition and reflect them back at us, what a blessing that is. The Leftovers was that story. That art that changed me. That made me have hope. That challenged the falseness this century has showered us in. It removed all the masks and showed us real, human suffering. What it’s like to be on this planet and how difficult it is, more often than not. It didn’t pedal happiness or apathy. It didn’t show us a glamorous, unattainable life that would make us feel a slight twinge of envy. It showed us what life will offer us. It delivered all of those realities in characters that were as tangible as you or I, in places that were small, comfortable and common.
If there was any envy evoked in me, it was that I preferred their world. Everyone was allowed to be exactly who they were without judgment. Everyone had this hopelessness that was still shrouded by a light. Everyone watched the world with a burden that I find familiar in myself. If the world ended, would it be okay? Yes. It would. So with that mentality, The Leftovers allowed me to feel acceptance with that acknowledgment. Have we done a disservice to humanity and the globe that’s irreparable? Do we deserve to lose our safety? Can we give up? Is it worth having any hope? Can we still love each other? Will we wake up? Is it okay not to fear death? Yes to all of those. That’s the kind of artistic room that we were given to breathe. That world, that fictional world, I understand that. Because as a deeply emotional woman, in tune with the world around me, I welcome all of the bits that make up the human soul. I want all of it. In this place it is absent or it is too loudly insincere. It is fleeting. It simply isn’t real. I can feel the disconnection and the lack of compassion and empathy.
So if a Sudden Departure happened, would it be terrible? No. It would give us some perspective. It might even give us peace.
