Recently I was privileged to see the musical ‘Pretty Woman’. You may have seen the film starring the handsome Richard Gere and the very attractive Julia Roberts.
Near the end, an iconic exchange occurs when Edward (Richard Gere) conquers his fear of heights to climb the fire escape of Vivian’s (Julia Roberts) apartment building, playing out her childhood fantasy of a knight rescuing a princess from a tower. When he asks what happens next, Vivian puts an empowered spin on the classic fairy tale.
'What happens when the dashing knight rescues the damsel from the entrapment of her tower?’
Answer: ‘She rescues him right back,’ highlighting that their relationship is actually a mutual rescue where they have both fundamentally changed and saved each other.
In the film/show, Vivian rescues Edward from the entrapment of the cold-hearted slavery of making dollars at the expense of others and himself. In turn, he rescues her from a life of prostitution. Thus both are enriched and liberated. Both can now explore a freedom that they have needed.
But there is a solemn little warning for all of us who seek to free others from whatever encumbrance we imagine they might have.
Everyone needs freeing. Our snares could be cash, the need to be needed, the longing to be noticed, the addiction to guilt. Clergy and carers of all sorts can be particularly unseeing of their own enslavement. So fervent are we in rushing to save one poor soul after another that we forget we have locked ourselves up in a tower of entitlement and self-congratulatory praise.
We need to be reminded that we also are continuously tempted; the tendrils of ego are forever growing and entwining, and we should always remember the humbling truth that the tax collectors and prostitutes are getting into heaven ahead of us.