What we do for love.

Tonight I saw Stephen Sondheim's Assassins. It was amazing. Two things really struck me as extemely moving and unbelievably well thought-out. The first is the use of a projector image of JFK's assassisnation onto the white t-shirt of the Lee Harvey Oswald character, just after he is convinced by John Wilkes Booth to kill the president for all the attention and notariety he could ever dream of. The second is the idea that all these people did what they did for the love of another human being. John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln for the love and adoration he wasn't getting as an actor. Squeaky Fromme attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford for the love of Charles Manson. (Isn't that messed up?!) John Hinckley attempted to assassinate President Reagan to show Jodie Foster how much he loved her. In the play, Oswald finally decides to kill JFK in order to win the love of friends and family, instead of committing suicide.

Love is a very powerful thing, not ever to be taken lightly. It makes people crazy in every possible way.