In Sherman’s March, Ross’s mentor Charleen says the memorable line, “Well, you never solve everything, Ross. You never solve everything. The only thing you've got is a chance for a few passionate hits. You see how foolish it all is. You see what the army comes to. The bunkers, the island, the burned-out house. Hell, it's all a tragedy. It's just a matter of how you get through it. And the most interesting way to get through it is to say, ‘I can't help it. I'm full of passion and I'm gonna die this moment. It's the only way to pretend you're alive. It's the only way to not be alone and depressed. You've got to kid yourself and you've got to kid her and then you'll both believe it.” I find this quote extremely interesting for several different reasons and will give my opinion on the quote line by line. Charleen starts out by saying, “you never solve everything”. This is a very important thing about life to realize. There is a point where we just have to realize that we can’t. There is some point where we must realize that if we try and make everything absolutely perfect we will become very disappointed. Now with that said we should look to achieve as close to perfection as much as we can. The point is we need to be happy every step of the way. We need to find a way to be happy even if things aren’t one hundred percent perfect. Charleen says next “The only thing you’ve got is a chance for a few passionate hits.” Here the point is that in life we have only one life. This may seem like a simple concept but rarely do people actually think what that means. In our lives we only have so many chances to enjoy it, to show passion. We need to take advantage of the chances we have and experience the passion that comes along with it. We can’t waste time always thinking about other things, to a certain degree we need to live in the moment. We need to not think as much in order to be happy. “You see how foolish it all is. You see what the army comes to. The Bunkers, the island, the burned-out house. Hell, it’s all a tragedy.” If carefully studied, like Ross does, life can be exposed. We can see all the fakeness and foolishness in it. In the end if we waste our time dwelling on the fakeness and foolishness where does that leave us when we are dead? Maybe the person who dwells on it has a more real vision of life but does that really make them any happier. For instance if there is no afterlife, and this is all we have, shouldn’t we try and enjoy it as much as we can, within the constraints of common ethics of course. Charleen is saying that sure it’s all a bunch of crap, but who cares. “It’s just a matter of how you get through it. And the most interesting way to get through it is to say, ‘I can’t help it. I’m full of passion and I’m gonna die this moment. It’s the only way to pretend you’re alive. It’s the only way to not be alone and depressed. You’ve got to kid yourself and you’ve for to kid her and then you’ll both believe it.” Charleen here tells us that in the end it’s just a matter of how we deal with all the fakeness of life. She argues that the best way to deal with it is to become part of it. She notes that if you just sit and think about the short comings of life you’ll just end up depressed. If you dwell on the fakeness you’ll never really be happy. The best way to deal with all of it is just to pretend that you’re happy and convince yourself you’re happy. If you convince yourself you’re happy you will be happy and in the end you will live a much happier life than someone who deeply analyzes the faults in life. In a way Charleen is saying don’t fight the current, just be ready to swim.