Air that I breathe

There is a scene in Doctor Zhivago where a thoughtless soldier kills a young boy in battle. Doctor Zhivago looks at the beautiful, dead youth, turns to the murdering soldier and asks, "Haven't you ever been in love before?" The soldier replies, "Well, I have three children and a wife."

The point is, of course, that the murdering soldier Doctor Zhivago addresses knows nothing about the lusts of life; he is unconsciously living; a wife and children are incidental; secondary to a life of following protocol down to government sanctioned paradigms of Russian war; and duties to men in power he serves without knowing, or WHY he does any action. What this solider knows of love is superficial at best.

This scene is so powerful because of the two world views of the opposing men and the horror committed by one. The answer follows, "Have you ever been in love?" to show the ultimate thievery involved in murder of a political sort. To take a man's life is taking away any chance they have of love. Contrast the love in Doctor Zhivago's world to this non thinking military servant with a weapon. He robbed that youth of love. There is nothing greater to live for in this world.

Doctor Zhivago many not be faithful to his wife, but in a time of war he finds lovers in overcrowded trains, makes poetry from desolate landscapes, and celebrates each passing day. In the frozen world of political collapse and in the confusion of a senseless war (an oxymoron) Dr. Zhivago finds his own happiness. His cup overflows with love against the most desolate backdrop he blossoms. There is nothing greater to live for then love. The heart was meant to beat for others. Zhivago means life.