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Quiet Resolve


The Things We Carry, or 'A Quiet Place' Isn't Just About Monsters ...
Last night I finally got around to watching the film, “A Quiet Place” with John Krasinski and Emily Blunt. If you aren’t familiar, the setting of the movie is a post-apocalyptic earth that has been overrun with vicious creatures that are blind, but have an incredibly acute sense of hearing. And the movie centers around a family who must live in nearly complete silence to avoid alerting these creatures and being attacked. If you think your social distancing has been rough, you’ve gotta watch this movie!

But there’s a scene towards the end of the movie that really caught my attention. The father of the family (Lee) is having a conversation with his daughter (Regan) via sign language. She is deaf and Lee has been working on creating a hearing aid for her throughout the movie, but he just can’t quite get it to work for her. While Lee tries to explain to Regan that he is experimenting with some design changes, she erupts with frustration and hopelessness:

Lee: This time, I took small amplifiers from the stereo and …
Regan (crying): It … won't … work!
Lee: No, this should increase the frequency to…
Regan: No, it never works!
Lee: But we’ll keep trying until it does.

I love the resolve of the father in this scene. He doesn’t have the answers. He can’t yet see a solution. But he refuses to give up because the endeavor is worth the all effort. It’s worth the challenges and uncertainty. It’s worth all the failure.

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