So there's a line in Max Payne in which some old dude who kind of looks like Jimmy Carter mixed with Wade Phillips is very sympathetically explaining his relationship with Max to Ludacris. One thing he says is something along the lines of, "[Max's wife's suicide] defines him," and I wondered... is there literally one moment in a person's life that defines them? I mean, maybe Ma Payne was just some dude until his wife killed herself and he suddenly had a purpose. Not that everyone has to witness their spouses suicide to have a legitimate goal, because the defining time in one's life could be something like... their first communion, or being touched by a church member immediately before their first communion ceremony. Or maybe someone hit a home run in their first little league baseball game and was then defined in the sense that they would dedicate their life to being a baseball player. But then, maybe that kid grew up and wasn't good enough. He could have been a success story like Rudy, but maybe he wasn't and instead is a living, breathing, completely depressed human adult because, past the age of 35 (hypothetically), it is literally impossible to realize their end. So maybe that kid grows into the functioning alcoholic father who coaches little league baseball past the age that his kids play. And maybe he pressures his kids to play sports, and they rebel and be completely drugged up, or they take his encouragement because this hypothetical son is kind of a chump, and his growth is stunted because he wasn't able to take the path of his defining moment, or maybe he was so wrapped up playing baseball that he never picked up a guitar or sat down to write about his feelings, or he was too empty to marry the right girl and witness her suicide.
I think this is a variation on the idea that the best golfer in the world may have never had the opportunity to play golf.
Or maybe some people don't have a defining point. Or maybe some people balked in their moment.
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