I have watched it many times but this time I was hit hard by several lines in the movie. Especially when Doc Holiday said he did what he did because Wyatt was his friend and he didn't have many. I thought about that a lot today. Doc Holiday clearly was a man with few boundaries and morals that were fluid to say the least. By the time he arrived in Tombstone he was fatally ill with tuberculosis. He was a man with nothing to lose and nothing to gain. He was loyal to the bone but only to a few. He didn't wade into the fray because of the people of the town, or because he had ideas about making the world a better place. He did all he did because Wyatt Earp was his friend.
There are more than a few personality traits I share with Doc and it was very easy for me to understand and appreciate him as Val Kilmer brought him to life. I too am a person of few friends. I too am a person with fluid boundaries governed mainly by my desire to watch my children grow. I don't know how those boundaries would change if I should become fatally ill but I suspect, knowing me, nothing to lose would not be favorable for those who stand against me.
Like Doc I remember the days when I was fierce and powerful. Like Doc I would give my last to a true friend in need of it. It made me a little sad to watch Doc die without his boots on, I can imagine no worse fate myself. Unlike Doc I have no Wyatt Earp. I have a handful of amazing friends I would gleefully wade into battle with, but I lack the depth of understanding that Wyatt had for Doc. He knew him. He fully accepted him as is. Maybe that is where my homesickness comes from. No matter where I am I always feel like I want to go home. Perhaps I just ache to find my Wyatt Earp.
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