This writing is not a critique of the popular (and populist) movie, “The Bucket List,” starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. It singularly focuses on the quixotic absurdity and empirical irrationality of the basic conceit of the narrative. The entertaining movie consists of the inquiry, by the protagonists, albeit, late in life, as to who they as individuals are and as to what they have done with their lives. This concern leads to their quixotic aspiration to engage in sundry exotic activities to assuage a felt desire to fulfill unrequited lifetime aspirations (fantasies) before death, i.e. before they “kick the bucket.”
The conception itself is foolhardy in that it involves the aspiration, before the time of death (“kicking the bucket”) to assuage a desire for ultimate personal fulfillment, by engaging in extreme and heroic activities, such as climbing Mount Everest, skydiving, swimming the English Channel, or running in a Marathon. It should be contextually noted, that such activities are entirely physical, and from an empirical point of view, reveal a sophomoric understanding of the meaning of success or achievement in life. Wisdom and experience teach the contemplative individual that the ultimate personal sense of the attainment of a fulfilled life is demonstratively otherwise.
The conceptual theme of the movie reveals the bizarre nature and quality of a society that acceptably approves the remuneration of many millions of dollars to professional athletes and, by marked contrast, modest salaries to scientists whose lives are dedicated to curing cancer and scholars who impart the enlightenment existentially required to maintain a democratically informed society.
It is only the disappointing and reality-skewed populism of our society that can elect a Donald Trump to the Oval Office, can blatantly, ignore the existential despoliation of our air and environment, shamefully denigrates the education of the young in the accurate history of the Nation, and which, atavistically, fears other Homo sapiens who look or believe differently.
We have often declared that the appropriate recognition of a successful life is the objective personal recognition of self-fulfillment, by the ultimate attainment of mature perception and a measure of experiential wisdom. No skydiving, mountain climbing, or auto racing is required.
-p.
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