Stand By Me-Spoiler Alert

I recently watched Stand By Me directed by Rob Reiner. The movie is about a grown man, Gordie who is reminiscing about the summer of 1959 after he reads in the newspaper that his childhood friend had been stabbed in a restaurant. His friends, Chris, Teddy and Vern, and him are desperate to find the body of a boy their age, who had been missing for several days. They pack their bundles and start their journey along the train tracks.

The boys bond so much all along the way. They tell stories, they sing, they laugh and they realize what an amazing time they are having: until they discover the body. This changes each and every one of their outlooks on life. They realize that life isn’t all about making jokes or hanging out in tree houses. Those are the things they value and are accustomed to, but they realize life isn’t that easy anymore. “The kid wasn’t sleeping, the kid was dead.”-Gordie. They never realized that something could be so grim and heart wrenching. They couldn’t believe it was real. The boys were so excited about being rewarded for finding the body, getting on TV and in the paper. But after they the brutality of reality hit them, all of that didn’t seem so important anymore.

When the boys arrive back in their hometown, Teddy and Vern were the first to walk off. Chris and Gordie went to the top of the hill where their tree house was located and looked over the distance. Chris says that he’s never going to make it out of the town and Gordie tells him he can do anything. The boys say their goodbyes and Chris walks off into the distance. Gordie states that Chris did get out and became a lawyer. Last week, Chris walked into a restaurant and tried to break up a fight. He was stabbed in the throat and died almost instantly. Gordie says, “Even though I hadn’t seen him in more than ten years, I know I’ll miss him forever.” This really pulled at my heartstrings. Forever. It was amazing to me that even though he hadn’t seen him for nearly a decade, he still says how much he’ll miss him. They had an incredible bond at childhood that cannot be broken. There’s a proverb “You’re not dead until the last person that knew you is dead.”  Gordie will continue to remember Chris for the rest of his life and cherish his memory. All four of their innocence was stolen together. But Chris and Gordie had a special bond. They could talk about funniest things and cry on each other’s shoulders. I believe that no matter if Chris is dead or if Gordie dies, they will be best friends beyond death.