"What power would hell have if those imprisoned there could not dream of heaven?" - Dream
I seldom cry. There were times when I cried because the hero in the movie I was watching was getting beaten to pulp. Of course like our true Indian movie, he always fought back in the end and there was the normal happily ever after ending. In those brief moments, I truly felt sorry for the hero, for all the goodness has possesses, for all the justice he has done and being the man that he was, was being treated unfairly. I got out of this attitude much before my peers learned how to spell television. (Yeah, I started watching movie when I turned 4, so sue me!). After that perhaps I have never cried for the death of a fictional protagonist. They ceased to bring out that effect on me. Well, that was until I read Sandman. I suppose I have read "The Wake" about 10 times by now. Every time I finish the book, there are tears at the end of my eye lashes and a lump in my throat. I believe Sandman is the biggest flawed person in the world; flawed in his own pessimistic way and screwed by his own choices. Maybe thats the reason why it was so simple and easy to get involved in his tale and grieve when he dies. (Well, Dream doesn't exactly die, but the point of view of the Dream - Morpheus dies.)
Maybe thats the reason why we like people who are much like ourselves. A little flaw here, a small catastrophe there, some mistakes, a handful of dreams, a bunch of friends, couple of bad habits, very rare obsession, knee deep passion and full of life.