THE COMMANDOS IN “THE LIFE OF BRIAN”

It seems somehow fitting that I make this post on the day that “Life of Brian” was voted the best comedy film of all time in a UK poll. I wrote this post a while ago intending to upload it on the date of one of the Monty Python team’s birthday, but it is perfectly suited to today.

The film, although deemed to be so blasphemous it was banned in Norway and Ireland is jam-packed full of classic funny moments. But not all of these are particularly appropriate for this Blog. Instead, the focus of my attention for SPIRITUAL WEIGHTLIFTERINESS as can be seen from the title, is this scene where crowd of malcontents and dissenters discuss the contributions that the Romans have made to society.

This scene has been much parodied but it does make a serious point I feel. Tom Waits sings in “San Diego Serenade” that he ‘never missed my hometown till I stayed away too long' – thereby implying that you don’t know what you’ve lost till you don’t have it anymore. In a similar way, the proletariat cannot see what the Romans have contributed to society. At least not until, in response to 'and what have they ever given us' the first person pipes up with 'the acqueduct', which opens the floodgates so that it is soon joined with 'the sanitation', 'roads', 'irrigation', 'medicine' and many more. Thus it is, in typical Pythonesque fashion, that the point is not so much made as bludgeoned home with a sledgehammer!

And I end up unsure about who lifts my spirits most. Is it the main speaker, who in the face of great contradiction still plugs away trying to prove his point again and again – like Robert the Bruce’s spider from the famous Scottish legend? Or is it the crowd who, despite their ‘leader’ telling them otherwise, come up with a whole string of reasons to be grateful to the Romans.

In a way I see parallels between this scene and the way in which yesterday’s SPIRITUAL WEIGHTLIFTER, Sir Bob Geldof, dealt with problems as they arose when planning Live 8. In short, he’d say, “Apart from X and Y what is standing in the way of [a particular thing] happening?” [receives answer] “Okay then, apart from X, Y and Z what is standing in the way of it happening?”

I love this ‘Never Say Never’ attitude and feel too few of us take that approach in our lives. Too often obstacles are perceived as being more problematic than they actually are.