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A Stop at Willoughby - how 'full measure' of life are you living?

posted 6 years ago by mickeyone (48)
7 replies | jump to latest

I just saw a little clip of end of this episode. And was thinking: you can look at this 2 ways (well I'm sure there are LOTS of ways you could look at it, but here I am looking at it 2 ways): Gart has just had it with the anxiety of living his current life and has to get off. He is bailing out. He is doing what his wife said, "he can't take the competition", he is a loser and is just unable to work hard enough to be a success at his chosen profession. But there is another way you can look at it. It has to do with what that conductor says: "Live your life full measure". That, when I hear it, really hits me hard. I wonder if it does others who watch this episode. It recalls the ideas that guy who lived at Walden Pond was talking about: Henry David Thoreau. Do we get to live our lives full measure, when we are living in this world the way it is set up? Why shouldn't we be able to live our lives "full measure"? I just don't get it. If Gart got off at "Willoughby" because he wanted to live his life "full measure", I don't think then you can really blame him. Think about your own life. Do you think you are living your life "full measure"? If not, what fraction of full are you living at? 90%? 50%? 10%?

[–] Tristan_Booth (403) 6 years ago

No. In order to even think about doing that, I would need to be free of debt.

[–] strntz (10883) 5 years ago

There is a guy on the radio called Dave Ramsey who has a radio show about getting out of debt. Lots of difficult choices to make but it's doable. One of my best friends became a disciple of his but laughs that I was Dave Ramsey before Dave Ramsey was.

I'm sure he must have books as well. If you're serious you can do this.

[–] Xcalat3 (3701) 6 years ago

I think i'm below 10%.

[–] JR-TV (102) 5 years ago

Interesting topic. I have always seen Willoughby as a story with a happy ending in an odd way. Gart was a man that hated his job and was just overly stressed because of it. I don't see him as a "loser." I think he was good at his job at least at one time. He says if he were to leave, he would take many big accounts with him. That tells me he had satisfied customers and was good at his job. But even things we like and are good at we can get tired of. Gart was fed up with his job and the stress that came along with it. His young colleague leaving and taking a big account and then his boss berating him in front of his pears was a major breaking point. And then to top it all off, his wife was not supportive of him at all. He wanted to get out but all she cared about was the fact that he wouldn't make as much money if he left his current profession. I think all this simply drove Gart crazy. I don't think he meant to commit suicide. It wasn't in his nature. I don't think he would have consciously given up. I think he truly believed that all he was doing was stepping off the train into the wonderful town of Willoughby. As a Christian, I see Willioughby as Heaven basically. I like that we see that Gart is still in Willoughby even after it is revealed that he jumped off the moving train. This tells me that it wasn't all in his mind. Because if it was, it would have all stopped and we would not see Gart again after he is revealed to be dead. As far as I am concerned, I feel like I am in a time in my life when I am "preparing" to live life full measure. I have a job that I like but I don't make a lot of money. So I am working full-time and going to school full-time to be able to move up in what I am doing now. So I don't have a lot of time right now but I can see a faint light at the end of the tunnel. And I do look forward to living life "full measure" for at least a few days during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays coming up when I will have time off from both work and school.

[–] strntz (10883) 5 years ago

I like that we see that Gart is still in Willoughby even after it is revealed that he jumped off the moving train. This tells me that it wasn't all in his mind. Because if it was, it would have all stopped and we would not see Gart again after he is revealed to be dead

Count me as one who also believes that Gart did indeed make it to the other side, but I don't think we see Gart after it's revealed he died in the snow. From there, he was put on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance/hearse. We *do* see Gart get off a train and walk among and interact with the townsfolk, but that train was not the New York to CT commuter train, but the 1800's steamer.

The final shot of Willoughby that we see during Rod's summation does not show Gart.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Very low. I wish I could do better, but I have no idea how.

[–] rhodeisland95 (50) 5 years ago

Gart's wife was a shrew and his boss was a miserable old coot. If I were Gart I probably would have drank myself to death.