Marlene Dietrich

It’s Valentines Day and I wanted to get this out to all of you early. Now I have two choices with today’s post. Option one is that I go melodramatic on you and piss and moan about how much live sucks. Option two is that I can bore you with the same old hyper-romance that Hollywood feeds to you every day. But, just like with gender I hate polarities in writing too. So today I am neither going to fuck or praise love. Instead I am going to talk about Marlene Dietrich. But again I am not going to bore you with the usual sappy love song. Yes, I admit it Ms. Dietrich was one of the most beautiful women to have ever lived, but that is immaterial to what I have to say about her.

Ms. Dietrich is more than a pretty face and a melodious voice. She is immortal. In a single pose and one snap of the camera she was forever immortalized to the cultured world. Now you may say that she is not immortal. You had no idea who the hell she was. No doubt though her image sends you thinking of something you once saw though. Her eternal nature is not in her own image, but in the legacy that her image created. Her grace and beauty captivated the globe and her voice spun into what would be for a decade the hallmark of movie music.

In other words, where she faded into obscurity in person she lived and lives on through legacy. Every woman since her has in some way tried to be like her. Think of the most blatantly, or for that matter alluring, pose made by the female body. Chances are Ms. Dietrich made it popular.

Legacy though is one o f those few things that if you try to establish, will always remain out of reach. To impart your essence upon life you must not be a part of it. If one worries about life and making a mark in it, it will crush them. One must be bigger than life in every way. You have got to blow Ms. Dietrich out of the water without even thinking about her.

This is why so few people leave actual legacies behind. I mean think about it we are always too busy worrying about the impact of our actions when we should be acting. There is too much hesitation in the modern person. Boldness without care is the token of greatness. To be uninhibited about life, doing as one pleases, that is the path to legacy.

Live in broad strokes. And above all, love more than anything you do. Love people, animals, rocks, trees, art, or water. We make things matter by loving them. Let the whole world matter to you, and suddenly you will matter to it. So today (did you actually believe I wouldn’t do this? Come on I read Harlequin Romances.) love and make sure everything you love fully knows it.

And before I leave you to go forth and love I have one last thing to say.

I really am sorry for the hokey-ness today.