new take on the meaning of life

Well, when I say 'new', it's from a seven-year-old episode of Angel, but anyway... The screen captures are a little dark, sorry.

Kate: My whole life has been about being a cop. If I'm not a part of the Force, it's like nothing I do means anything.
Angel: It doesn't.
Kate: Doesn't what?
Angel: Mean anything. In the greater scheme, in the big picture. Nothing we do matters. There's no Grand Plan, no big win.
Kate: You seem kind of chipper about that.
Angel: I guess I kinda worked it out. If there's no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do. 'Cause that's all there is: what we do ~ now, today. I fought for so long...for redemption, for reward, finally just to beat the other guy, but I never got it.
Kate: Now you do?
Angel: No...all I want to do is help. I want to help because I don't think people should suffer as they do. Because if there's no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world.
Kate: Yikes, it sounds like you had an epiphany.
Angel: I keep saying that, but no-one's listening...

To be honest I see some flaws in his reasoning (eg, to say that 'all that matters is what we do' ignores the drivers that motivate what we do, the scope of which cover a lot more ground than 'live well' or 'be kind to others and do no harm') but still I find that I like this reasoning.

We may wonder about the afterlife and hope (we have one and) it's something happy or productive or beautiful, but in the end it's kind of sad if the only reason we do good is to make installments on a fat final reward. And where does end-game thinking like that leave people who don't believe there is anything after this life? I think life needs purpose, even if it's a purpose we assign to it. And I think most people who life above subsistence level (who have the time and energy to give to pondering what life's about) want to carve out some kind of purposeful life for themselves.

What do you guys think?

lines I like from buffy

Recently I insulted the scriptwriting in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Industrial Athena threatened to use my kidneys for ping pong balls (or, you know, something like that) unless I retracted said vile statements and checked it out properly. Hence I am now watching all seven series. What I have discovered so far is that while (as IA herself conceded) the first season does suck as much as I remembered, there is some pretty witty banter in there. I also discovered that while Angel, by the time I saw him in his own series, was fair to middling in the hotness department...in the first six episodes of season one, he was 'I think my knees just melted' hot.
























Anyway, I'll be posting some Buffy quotes from time to time for your reading pleasure. Here are some snippets from the first six episodes:

Ep 101

Giles challenges Buffy to 'spot the vampire' in a nightclub and she does...by his terrible fashion sense.

Buffy: Deal with that outfit for a moment.
Giles: It's dated?
Buffy: It's carbon-dated.

Ep 102

1. They're trying to work out where the vamps went.

Buffy: As soon as I got clear of the graveyard they kind of just...voom.
Xander: They can fly?
Buffy: They can drive.

2. Buffy's at the nightclub the next night, doing the slaying thing. She holds a mike stand, ready to throw it.

Macho vampire: You forget, metal can't hurt me.
Buffy: There's something you forgot about, too...sunrise.

She throws the stand, breaks a glass panel and light streams in. The vamp reels from it, then stops, wondering why he isn't burning. We see the source of the light...a regular globe on the ceiling. Buffy stakes him.

Buffy: It's in about nine hours, moron.

He dies.

Ep 103

Nothing jumped out at me. A few things did jump out at Buffy, but sans snappy dialogue.

Ep 104

Giles is explaining the modus operandum of the scary she-mantis, who incidentally has Zander.

Giles: Basically the she-mantis assumes the form of a beautiful woman and then lures innocent virgins back to her nest.
Buffy: Virgins? Well Zander's...not a... I mean, he's probably...
Willow: Gonna die.

Ep 105

Giles and Buffy are in the library researching. Superfine boy (Owen) walks in and Buffy turns into starry-eyed girl. Giles is...less than happy about this.

Buffy: Ooh, Owen. Hi.
Giles: What do you want?
Owen: Uh...book?
Giles(Remembers he's the librarian at this school.): Oh.
Buffy (to Giles): See this is a school, and we have students, and they check out books, and then they learn things.
Giles: I was beginning to suspect that was a myth.

Ep 106

Zander has become hyena-like and mean (it's a curse thingy). Buffy consults 'the expert on weird', Giles.

Giles: Zander's taken to teasing the less fortunate?
Buffy: Uh huh.
Giles: And uh...there's a noticeable change in both clothing and demeanour?
Buffy: Yes.
Giles: And...well, otherwise all his spare time's spent lounging about with imbecils?
Buffy: It's bad, isn't it?
Giles: It's devastating. He's turned into a sixteen-year-old boy. Of course, you'll have to kill him.
Buffy: Giles, I'm serious!
Giles: So am I...except for the part about killing him.

It's late, so that's all for now. The next episode is called Angel. Seeing as he's been mysterious and hot (but not told anyone he's a vampire) so far, I'm guessing that's the episode where Buffy finds out. Should be good. ^_^