Every once in a while, the world of television produces a show that somehow resonates across a spectrum of viewers. One such show is We’ll Meet Again, the latest tearjerker from PBS. The show is hosted by Ann Curry and revolves around the reunion of various people from different walks of life. The result is drama like no other, and if there’s something we can get from the show besides a helping of emotion, it’s an unlimited source of life lessons. Here are five lessons about life we can all learn from We’ll Meet Again.
Kindness can change lives.
In the episode Heroes of 9/11, many people’s lives were forever changed not just by the attacks but also by what happened afterward. Many people experienced the meaning of true altruism and kindness during this time including Patrick Anderson, who found himself in the middle of all the mess. Exhausted and hopeless, Anderson found refuge in the arms of a complete stranger, Emily, who took care of Anderson just out of her kindness. Emily kept him safe and helped him find his way back to his family, ultimately changing his life for the better despite of what dreadful thing was going on.
It’s never too late to try anything.
War-torn families rarely get the ending they want. It’s rare to hear stories of people reuniting after being separated by war, and in the case of Tina, that much is true. Tina was separated from her American father during the Vietnam War. It literally took her decades before she found her father, but when she realized that he had already passed on, she didn’t feel an ounce of defeat. She knew she tried her best, and although she didn’t get to reconnect with her father, her best efforts brought her to her sister and the people that knew her father the most. Just making connections out of broken stories from both sides was well worth the effort for Tina and proves that it is never too late to try.
Strength comes from within.
During calamities, most people’s instinct is to save their selves. However, there are those who strive to save others who are in need of help. When Mt. St. Helens erupted back in 1980, strangers found the strength to help other people in such deadly circumstances. One helicopter pilot named Mike did just that. He flew into the worst situations to save people, including a woman named Sue. Mike saved Sue’s life and many others, relying only on his own inner strength to survive.
Closure heals.
This show highlights the stories of people who have been missing something in their lives or have been looking to do something for many years. There’s a certain emptiness this can bring, and those who carry that burden know that only closure can resolve it. Regardless of how the chapters in a book end, they have to finish one part of the story in order to move on to the next. For many people in the show, they might not have gotten the ending they wanted for their stories, but any closure is better than none. Mandy from episode 2 knew that the person who saved her life died trying, but she still needed to reconnect to someone that knew her savior before she could close that part of her life.
Your life can change course at any given moment.
Disasters happen. Hope happens. Life happens. At any moment, your life can be abruptly pulled from its center and dropped into a completely different setting. Positive or negative, anything can happen. There truly is no guarantee in life, and none of us can ever know what will happen tomorrow. This is why it’s so important to live life to the fullest every day. You never know what you might lose. On the same note, you also will never know what you might find or whom you might meet along the way. Much like soldier Timothy from the 9/11 episode found strength in a random pastor, the stranger next to you might just be the one who might change your life forever. You just never know.
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