I heard Grinspoon’s “Better off alone” on the radio today and I was winded by the memory of the video clip, which I saw many months ago.

The song is about breaking up. Of course, the video clip has nothing to do with this. However, it affected me greatly when I watched it. I was washing the dishes on Saturday morning and I became transfixed by the TV. I had to stop my washing.

There’s a young man and woman in a car. They crash into a lake and by the time they regain consciousness, the car is filling with water. They’re panicking. The woman manages to unbuckle herself from the seat. The man struggles. He can’t undo the seatbelt. She tries to help. Together, they fight the black strip but they can’t undo it. He is going to drown. It becomes clear that if she is to survive, she must leave the car and the man now. She doesn’t leave. She sits back in her seat and holds his hand. They’re terrified and holding hands as the water rises and their faces are pressed against the roof of the car.

That’s the end of it.

Something about the song (which itself is very expressive) reminds me of the intensity of the feelings in that clip. It’s a stupid video. I can’t believe that there was no way of getting him out and on an intellectual level, I know that the woman should have left.

Yet, she would have been so brave to stay, so giving. Surely she would have lessened his terror and loneliness of dying. I would have admired her. No one would know what she had sacrificed.

Anyway. It makes me think.