Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners
"The Big Lebowski" is a perfect movie. The more I watch, the more I learn, and the more appealing that imaginary world of 1991 Los Angeles becomes. The Dude, aka Jeffrey Lebowski, is a laid back, pot smoking, unemployed bowler. His daily regime includes the aforementioned pot smoking, a steady drip of White Russians, and meeting his buddies at the bowling alley where they share some beers and some laughs as they try to roll their way into the finals.
A case of mistaken identity throws The Dude and his calm life into chaos. With assistance from his bestie Walter, The Dude does his best to figure his way out of the mess and maybe make a little cash on the side (enough to possibly bump him into a higher tax bracket). Things just get messier, yet through it all The Dude abides.
My favorite definition for the act of abiding is: (of a feeling or a memory) continue without fading or being lost: continue, remain, survive, last, persist, stay, live on. In the chaos that has become our new normal, we are all abiding as best we can. I look to The Dude for ways (minus the pot smoking) to remain calm and keep my inner peace in tact.
T and I have a Memorial Day weekend tradition that we tend to without fail. We grill our rendition of In-N-Out burgers, drink Caucasians (White Russians, and yes, considering current events we smirked a bit as we sipped the vodka, Kahlúa, and cream cocktails), and relish in the hope that our antihero, The Dude, still exists somewhere in the world, abiding.
As The Stranger says, "I don't know about you, but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners."
To read more about this year's Lebowski dinner, head over to Called to the Table.
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