TO BE POSSESSED IS DIVINE

IN WHICH, I PURSUE THE OTHER, MORE POSITIVE SIDE OF THE SEMANTIC TERRAIN WHEREIN BEING "HAUNTED" OR "POSSESSED" UNLOCKS SOMETHING SPECIAL AND POWERFUL IN US ALL.

- WORDS INDRAN PARAMASIVAM PHOTO COLUMBIA RECORDS

I'LL NEVER FORGET the solemn look of respect and admiration that Chadwick Boseman and Denzel Washington exchanged at the 2019 American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award ceremony, in which the latter was being honoured. Fighting back tears, Washington looks while Boseman toasts to him, uttering words that have surely moved the millions who have watched that clip.

"The daily battles won, the thousand territories gained, the many sacrifices you made for the culture on film sets through your career, the things you refused to compromise along the way, laid the blueprints for us to follow. And so now, let he who has awarded be awarded."

At that point, Washington's eyes are lined with tears, and he stands up to clap for Boseman. It's an incredibly emotionally charged moment shared by two men, where the finery of the surroundings or even the fact that there are surroundings at all doesn't matter. In that moment, there is just one soul paying tribute to another and the recipient accepting that tribute in the best faith. We often approach the idea of being "haunted" in supernatural terms. But that is an instance of the semantic pendulum swinging to the good side, the one where the force that takes over doesn't make your head spin or spit bile.

It's the one where you outdo yourself in ways that affirm and elevate your humanity.

The Choice Is Ours

I keep coming back to “The daily battles won”. They are simple words that say a lot.