How Love, Time, and Death Can Make Us Feel.

Everyone has experienced a tragedy, a heartbreak, and a death of a loved one. While something so tragic usually happens to people who have experienced a fulfilling life, people of all age groups have experienced Collateral Beauty. An elderly man may have lost his wife, a daughter may have lost her father, and a child may have lost their childhood pet. Collateral beauty is an experience many people sadly go through. It is not something you feel, it is something you experience suddenly, or over time. Collateral Beauty is a process that includes understanding what it feels like to love, to lose time, and to process the feeling of death.  In the movie Collateral Beauty, Collateral Beauty is defined as being met by love, time and death, and how to come to terms with the way life works.

My mother and I saw Collateral Beauty for the first time in theatres when I was 11 years old. Since Will Smith was one of my favorite actors at the time, I was very excited to see it. When watching the film, I was incredibly moved by not only Will Smiths performance but the story itself. I had never lost anyone in my life yet, so seeing Howards pain when he lost his daughter was upsetting. My mother cried watching the movie, because she related to Howards character. She talked about how losing your child isn’t something you can get over, it is sad, depressing, and causes you to be angry.

 After watching the movie, we hugged one another and discussed what the movie meant to each other. To me the movie focused on how after time passes it is easier to heal. For my mother, the movie exemplified that loving something and losing it, is the worst heartbreak any person can ever go through. She explained to me that if she had ever lost me or my brother, she would be extremely vulnerable just like Howard. 7 years later we still talk about the movie, and how much it still means to us now. 

                Love is the first form of Collateral Beauty. In the movie, love is played by Amy, telling Howard that the love you have for someone never ends. As well as being in love can be the most beautiful thing in the world. The meaning behind love in Collateral Beauty is that with first glance or first sight, you begin to fall in love. For parents, it can be falling in love with children when they are born. For teenagers, it can be falling in love with a first crush. For grandparents, it can be loving each other after being married for 50 years. There are many opportunities for falling in love. Love is not something you can automatically know; it is something that you learn to do over time. Being in love can be so incredibly beautiful, in the beginning, the middle, and depending on the relationship, it can be beautiful in the end.

Death is the second form of Collateral Beauty. In the movie, death is played by Brig The meaning behind death in Collateral Beauty is that someone or something can die suddenly. But that doesn’t mean you should hate the world because of it. Losing a child, mother, father, grandparent, or pet can be extremely tough on an individual. Especially when it is an individual that you are close with. Death is one of the saddest things an individual may go through. It can change someone’s entire existence, demeanor, and way of living. Losing someone you love feels as though something inside of you is missing. Some may overcome that feeling, while others hold onto it until they sadly can’t take it anymore. Death can not only change a person, but it can change their everyday functions. A husband may lose his wife, and he wouldn’t be able to kiss her goodbye before work. A parent may lose their child, and they wouldn’t be able to get them ready for school in the morning. A child may lose their pet dog and wouldn’t be able to take them on walks every day. Death is painful, it can hurt you time and time again. Especially when more than one person you love dies. While that pain might hurt for a while, just like time, death is also inevitable. You live your life, and then you die. 

Time may seem like it lasts forever but, you never know when your time is running out. As a person who tries to treat every day like it could be the last. I have noticed that many people take certain situations for granted. Living life on edge may seem interesting in the beginning, but as life goes on that shouldn’t be the only way to live. Time is inevitable, we only have so much of it which is why it is always important to treat it with kindness. The younger generation are usually the ones that treat time like it is nothing. The middle-aged generation are the ones who start to realize time is precious. While the older generation are the ones who are grateful and content that they were able to have so much time to be free of all the things they wanted to do.

Collateral Beauty in its own form can be extremely tough to overcome. It can hurt you, break you, and make you numb. The best thing to do in these situations is to take time to yourself and heal. Collateral isn’t just a problem you face, its struggles that can damage you, and make you learn. The beauty of it is that by including love, time, and death, Collateral Beauty can make you find the best in life. From watching the movie with my mother, to going through my grandfather’s passing, has all taught me that while the term Collateral Beauty may come from a movie, it shows the meaning of life. The movie has stuck with me for 7 years now, and I still have a soft spot for it every time I rewatch it. As well as watching The Upside, both films do a great job of making you feel validated for coming to terms with something that has or will affect your entire life. At the end of the film, we see Howard come to terms with his daughters passing, as well as apologizing to the ones he harmed. Collateral Beauty is damaging and beautiful, but in the end its worth finding peace.