Harold & Kumar's Enlightenment

There are a few short words that are usually associated with the tandem of Harold and Kumar. Silly. Nonsense. Marijuana. They are the Cheech and Chongs of the new millenium. Some might even say that watching the movie may make you dumber than when you came in.

However, there were a few isolated moments when characters were philosophical and to a certain extent, enlightening enough to redeem the rest of the film.

CASE # 1 : Dubya the Wise

May sound like an oxymoron of the highest degree, but the actor who played the ex-President said (through his role) something that may be applicable not just to Americans, but to anyone.

"You don't have to believe in your government to be a good American,

you just have to believe in your country"

Hearing that, especially from Dubya himself, is enough to kill the strongest buzz from anything, but he makes absolute sense. As I said, this applies to all, not just Americans. We complain a lot about how the Government and the system sucks, yet we don't do anything for ourselves. These coming elections are not a lost cause, because our country will choose its rightful leader. Should cheating occur, people will not just take it lying down.

CASE # 2 : The Square Root of 3

Apparently, the poem was written by someone called David Feinberg, and not Kumar Patel as the movie suggests. However, the spirit of the poem is universal and applies to any case. Reading the words to the poem, I found the language very moving that I just had to post it.

It has a number of major elements : Musicality, Meter, Imagery... all types of brushes to paint the poem itself. The poem goes:

I’m sure that I will always be

A lonely number like root three,

The three is all that’s good and right,

Why must my three keep out of sight

Beneath the vicious square root sign,

I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,

with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321

Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see,

Another square root of a three

As quietly co-waltzing by,

Together now we multiply

To form a number we prefer,

Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds

With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued

Your love for me has been renewed

The language barrier seeks not to exclude the writer from the world, but include him in the language of love. Sure, this may sound geeky with all the mathematical terms but they fit. They provide the syntax that makes the poem itself a conundrum...a "square root of three". And yet, looking into the essence of the poem, one can slowly unfold its meaning in a few simple words: Despite being weird and different, one can still find Love.

In this case, it appeals to the Nerdy-types that dabble in technical mathematical terms and conquers the barrier and stereotype that literature is only for the artsy free-spirit. They can now simplify their "square root of three"-ness by co-waltzing with the other "square root of three" to remove the square root sign that so obviously delimits and thus reveal a perfect number 3.