I've been listening to selections from the soundtrack (free clips are available for listening here: http://rentmoviesoundtrack.com/) nearly non-stop since watching the movie all the way through twice (gotta love cable stations that show movies over and over again - and this was basic cable, too!).
For those of you who've seen the show or the movie, you'll know what I'm referencing by the "support group scene". For those who aren't familiar with Rent, many of the characters have HIV - or full-blown AIDS - and they attend support group meetings to help them deal with the fact that they're forced to live with a deadly disease for which there is no cure. There's a bit where the support group sings the following lyric (and it's reprised at the funeral of one of the characters later in the show, and again after another character has a near-death experience):
I was struck by the relevance of that particular lyric to my life lately. No, I don't have HIV/AIDS, or anything else immediately fatal; but I do feel that I've been really stuck in a rut, and that I haven't gotten as much out of life as I maybe could have, so far.There is no future;
There is no past;
Thank God this moment's not the last.
There's only us;
There's only this:
Forget regret,
Or life is yours to miss.
No other road
No other way;
No day but today.
I don't know what or how much I can do to change it, but I really like the idea that life really ought to be lived one day at a time, and appreciated as it happens, and I want to try to be better about making sure I do that.
a. ;)
