Memories, nothing but memories

Why did Rick forsake the world after Paris? He is the kind of person who ran guns in Ethiopia and fought on the loyalist side, and came to Casablanca because he thought it had water. In fact, Captain Renault read him the best—as a rank sentimentalist. Don’t the dilemma in his character and actions make him more adorable? Don't we all have such contrasts in our characters and actions? When the heart starts playing a role in one's life, emotions swing from one extreme to another. It is either heaven or absolute hell, nothing in between. And, there is little point in living in between either. Passion must give one a feel of heaven and the lack of it must throw one in the dungeons of hell. Let’s pity those who don't live a life of passion, for they live life without tasting either heaven or hell. For that matter, they have tasted nothing. It is a life lived on the periphery and died long before others have actually performed the last rites. It is in the heart of a woman that a man lives, and the other way round. It is just the two who realise how life changes once a nest is built. The word nest has been so appropriately and aptly used by Tennessee Williams in the Night of the Iguana. Remember Deborah Kerr's parting shot after Richard Burton proposed her. And Ava Gardner, irresistible as Maxine, stormed away: "You don't even know that you have built a nest." We all build nests mostly unknowingly, and at times, waste our lives in the hope that we will stay there. Though Lawrence Shannon built it unknowingly, Rick had nurtured it in his full senses. It was a twist of fate, another very common occurrence, which left him waiting in the platform, with rain pouring down. He kept waiting in Casablanca till she arrived...as he says, "she walks into mine."
Rick's guts spilled out for the world to see a second time. But Rick had had the taste of heaven by then. He was blessed, which gave him the strength to wait and face the world he hated every minute. His strength came from the memories… La Belle Aurore...the Germans wore grey, you wore blue...As time goes by....