Sometimes Nothing Can Be A Real Cool Hand
In the movie “Cool Hand Luke” The character played by George Kennedy describes the
character played by Paul Newman while playing cards as having a “hand full of nothing. ”
Newman’s character, Luke, replies “sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.”
Once as a child I fell into a swimming pool, on the deep end, and sank to the bottom. In that
moment, feeling the bottom under my feet, I pushed off as hard as I could. I felt an incredible
surge of power, and almost felt as though I had been yanked out. Laying there, I realized that
sinking to the bottom was what I needed to get out.
Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.
Broken hearted, disillusioned, blasted by existential fatigue; a lifetime of disappointments. Our
heroes are incredibly flawed, capable of great things, but in the modern age we know too much.
Time and again I will come across some public admission or outing that it becomes difficult to
enjoy the work the artist has created. All heroes are human, and as such carry the toxicity and
selfishness of the time they live in. Heroes can not be separated from the time in which they
live, and all heroes are not what they seem.
Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand! Disillusioned we can face life as it is, accessing
radical acceptance. We find that joy is more than the excitement of happiness. Realizing that
even if a worst case scenario has occurred we can celebrate. In the grief of loss we find the
power of compassion. In this unconditional acceptance we are more effective and love our lives
just as they are.
Nothing can be a real cool hand because we are no-thing. We cannot be informed because no
form can describe us. We are more than the sum of our past mistakes, or even the mistakes of
the future. Unsoiled even by harsh judgement we can celebrate a “hand full of nothing,” we find
access to positive indifference. Paul Newman as Luke embodied this human nobility that is
each one of us. No matter what, we got this.