one thing

There are not many movies scenes that really stick with me. But this one, a scene from City Slickers, has kept replaying through my mind every few months . . . for 25 years. The context is a group of friends from the city join a cattle drive, to get away, and to try to find meaning in life.

Mitch (Billy Crystal): “See now that\’s great, you’re life makes sense to you,” as they ride behind a herd of cattle.

Curly, (the late Jack Palance), the mythic, grizzled, gnarly cowboy, in a
drawn-out growling drawl: “All you city folk are alike. You worry about
a lot of shit. You spend 50 weeks a year gettin\’ knots in your rope and think
2 weeks up here will untie them for you. None of you get it.”

Curly: “You know what the secret of life is?” as he holds up one finger.

Curly: “This.”

Mitch: “Your finger?”

Curly, very slowly, in his gnarly cowboy drawl: “One thing.”

Curly: “Just one thing . . . you stick to that . . . and the rest . . . don’t mean shit.”

Mitch: “But, what’s the ‘one thing’?”

Curly stares at Mitch through squinted his eyes, narrowing his gaze: “That’s . . . what YOU . . . gotta figure out.”

Mitch is left dumbfounded, staring at his finger.

How about you? Does life leave you staring at your finger?