My Boy Jack

Joy in Pain

Every now and then I need a cathartic cry. PBS's Masterpiece Theatre delivers. David Haigh, who was rumored to have been told he looks like Rudyard Kipling , decided to write and star in this biographical version of Kipling's struggles with sending his son to war. He craft not a war films or a means to redeem a bit of human touch to the political and celebrity version of Kipling, he delivers a family story, a father's story of loosing a son and loosing a piece of himself. And while I often don't like war films, when battle reenactments and soldier's scenes are there to accentuate a personal story, I find I can muddle through tough moments when they deliver. And yes, the program delivers. Haigh has me crying at the end when he delivers the universal poem of a father's loss:

“

“Have you news of my boy Jack?” Not this tide. “When d’you think that he’ll come back?” Not with this wind blowing, and this tide. “Has any one else had word of him?” Not this tide. For what is sunk will hardly swim, Not with this wind blowing, and this tide. “Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?” None this tide, Nor any tide, Except he did not shame his kind— Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide. Then hold your head up all the more, This tide, And every tide; Because he was the son you bore, And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!

”

Given today's war, I'm sure many of us, and many parents, struggle with our own loved ones leaving for war. Break out the hanky.