Topic: Had Ennis really changed his way of living if Jack's death were a mistake?

[babytammy7]

Hi dear brokies!!

LJN and my sweet MPJ asked me to start a new thread 'cause we were talking about if Ennis truly would have changed his mind and would have lived with Jack if Jack had been still alive and his death had been only a mistake. We all always have thought that Ennis would change if he would have a second chance, but a friend of mine said that the more logical would be that he were even more afraid.

I quoted my own post:

Aintfoolin, MPJ, a friend of mine said to me that perhaps Ennis didn't change at all, and he neither would have wanted that sweet life if he had have a second chance, 'cause his theory about being killed for being gay was confirmed with Jack's dead.......   If Jack were still alive he probably would be more understanding, but he were even more afraid of being killed than before and he were afraid of loosing Jack again if they were found out.

I never thought about it in that way, but I think it could makes sense; what do you think?

As I said, Ennis probably would be more loving 'cause he learned how to love, how to be more tolerant, more understanding, less paranoid. He learned that if he was loving somebody he have to show him that love, and not hiding it to him as he did with Jack. He learned that perhaps he have to say I love you in any time. He learned that it were better if he let people loving him instead of pushing them away; but surely he still would be afraid of being killed, or at least, being insulted and rejected for being gay.

What do you think?

Thank you so much for your anwers!!!

[myprivatejack]

Now I´ve catched you,Tammy¡ .Well,the easy answer would be:They spend this "sweet life" Jack wanted so much without the problems they´d had for,mainly,Ennis´fears and paranoias.That´s right.But,being more realistic,I wonder if this situation wouldn´t be a "double-edged weapon"-I don´t know if the translation is correct,excuse me...-,it´s to say:On one hand,Ennis had had an horrible lesson about how to fight for your love and,in general,everything you can wish during your life and how to open his mind and his heart more than before.I said in another post that people,for some strange mechanism,don´t appreciate what they have until it´s too late and we need often a blow to realise it.But on the other hand,a serious childhood shock as Ennis had doesn´t heal so easily,although the "cure" has been also very traumatic.

[myprivatejack]

Perhaps,you´re right,Ennis had had more reasons to come back to his old fears-the first times of joy and recovering passed-because the causes of Jack´s death-even invented-would be as an eternal confirmation of these fears:he wasn´t dead,BUT HE COULD BE AND BE DEAD FOR HIS SEXUALITY.Unless Jack confirmed that his "death" was created as an accident, and even in this case,sooner or later,Ennis would be the happiest man of the world,but this would be an excuse to see everywhere a lot of threats against this happiness,I guess.
I also said in another post that one thing is to love somebody and another to be able to live with;also I think it´s Tpe and me spoke about the end of love,the end of a relationship and the end of a dream.The first end never arrives,imo,but the other two would be difficult to avoid,even in these circumstances.A greater effort should be done.

[aintfoolin]

 I think somewhere, I believe it was LJN who said that Ennis's would have faced an army of tire irons, in that moment if he could just have Jack back again,
He was a changed man after Jack and we have to look no further than Ennis's (so unlike Ennis )behavior after finding out about Jack's supposed demise to see this imo. He never made it to Childress, Texas, but contacted Lureen, never made past the handle of the coffe pot before, but drove to LF to see Jack's parents. saw the error of his ways concerning his daughters's wedding. Accepted Jack's gift of love in the form of the shirts. All these deeds and actions speak to the change in Ennis and the effects of his devastating loss.

Had he been givin a second chance it would have been met imo with a humbled gratefulness that Jack was once again standing before him alive. Alive and well and no doubt still in love. I don't think Ennis could ever deny what is inside himself or Jack ever again ( Though forever mindful of the dangers), I feel that givin this second chance he would'nt let Jack out of his sight again. He now knows the alternative to false self-denial, Lessons learned that nothing can replace what he feels for Jack. I just can't see him thowing it all away again ever tire irons be damned!.
Again, as I stated in the branch thread to this, he only would know one thing, and that  it is better having Jack alive than Jack dead. Period.  It is the  human essence of the changed man that he becomes, stemming from this lesson of enlightenment. No longer an island, Jack is back in his life again and that's all that matters to him.  A winner scenario. My humble opinion.

[tpe]

Thanks babytammy7 and MPJ.  

I somehow feel that Ennis was apt to change had Jack's death proved false.  For one, we feel the beginnings of change by his acceptance of the marriage invitation from Alma Jr.

Also, I think it was this that jolted him into the realization that love will not always be there.  How tenuous, how fragile is human love, even though it has the capacity to live on beyond death itself.  

Ennis's "I swear" is probably the surest sign that something basic has changed within Ennis.  Perhaps had Jack miraculously came back to life, Ennis would have repudiated this.  It is possible for people to go back to their old ways.  But something tells me that once Ennis budges, he budges for good.  And his solemn vow in the end is for keeps -- even beyond death itself.

[welshwitch]

Maybe having tried for so long to live a half-life with Jack, then having lost him and seen how empty life was without him, had Jack been miraculously restored to him he might have decided that Jack had been right all along, and that taking the rsik of being together was worth it - anything rather than emptiness and isolation....maybe.

[LuvJackNasty]

Yes that was me aintfoolin'    Great post!  I do think that if Ennis had gone through losing Jack and could somehow have him back that he would do anything to be with Jack. If Jack thought he was on a short leash before, there'd be no slack on this one. Do I think Ennis would miraculously change and have no fears? No. They are so ingrained in him that it'd be like cutting off a limb but in losing Jack he realized there was a fate worse than meeting those tire irons and that was losing the one who was your everything. I don't think Ennis sits there and feels that his fears were justified but rather, I think he mourns what could/should have been and the precious time and memories that he lost by letting fear override his heart.

 

Ennis's "I swear" is probably the surest sign that something basic has changed within Ennis.  Perhaps had Jack miraculously came back to life, Ennis would have repudiated this.  It is possible for people to go back to their old ways.  But something tells me that once Ennis budges, he budges for good.  And his solemn vow in the end is for keeps -- even beyond death itself.

Excellent Thomas! Even though "Jack, I swear" can have many interpetations it is the fact that "Jack had never asked him to swear anything and was himself not the swearing kind." (AP) that makes that an even more powerful declaration from him- at least IMO.

[manhattangirl]

IMO:

If Ennis found that Jack's death was a mistake, he get down on his knees and thank God, in his Methodist way Jack was still here and it was a mistake.  I agree with what was said before the "short leash" would definitely be shorter.  What I doubt is that his way of thinking would change.  Ennis was brought up this way.  It was ingrained in him from childhood, he was taught to hate that part of him, that was him. 

It takes courage to live  a life in spite of one's fear, and more courage to go against with what you've been taught.  This is something Ennis would have to teach himself to do.  There is no magic pill, no lightening from above that could strike him and make him fearless.  Only the day to  day struggle to live and love, and if lucky another twenty years of life with the one he loved.   

[aintfoolin]

 MG,

  This is an excellent post . I agree, his fears are still in him, and they are not going to majiscally disappear overnight, but I feel that in that closet, he was forced to weigh the costs.  He no doubt had self-blame , guilt, a sense that he had an indirect responsibility for Jack being dead . Feel this is what tips the scale. To have Jack back alive would go a long way in restoring peace of mind in him along with a new willingness to find a way to be with Jack always.

It would be a very. very, personal decision for Ennis, but if somehow he could have Jack back? As far as I'm concerned, his mind was made up  when he found the shirts exactly what he'd do  if he still had Jack. He swore to it in the end.  My thoughts.

[babytammy7]

Well, I agree with MPJ, people don’t realized how priceless what they have is until they loosing it, then, they changing, so Ennis took a powerful lesson, but how many people taking cooking lessons and never learn how to cook something good? I mean, you can learn something but you don’t know how to use it: there are a lot of people in love or feeling love but they just don’t know how to love, and I think Ennis was one of them; he felt so much love but he didn’t know how to express it or what doing with it. And also he have been doing everything in the same way for 40 years, so, though he learned a great lesson with Jack’s false death, it would be so difficult for him changing his habits and his way of thinking and feeling in just a few months. And besides, Thomas said: “It is possible for people to go back to their old ways”; and I think that’s true: when we do something wrong that complicate our life in any moment, we swear that we will never do it again, but when danger is gone, most of us, doing it again. So it would be possible that Ennis would do things in the same way as always when he would see that Jack was alive and safe. I don’t know….

Besides, if you’ve had during many years strong reasons (Earl and Rich) for not doing something (having a gay relationship), and then you see that doing that thing leads you to disaster (Jack’s false death) I think you never would do it again. Jack’s death was the confirmation of Ennis’ theory.

Anyway, what would you think about it if tire irons weren’t the problem? I mean, as I said in Tony’s topic, I’ve always thought that even if Ennis and Jack were living in big city, nowadays, with tolerant people, Ennis would do the same things in the same way, Ennis would be the same ashamed man, ‘cause the society wasn’t the real problem in BBM; Ennis was the real problem ‘cause he was ashamed of being gay (he hated queers), so he never wouldn’t be able to admit his love for Jack, although he were living in gay’s paradise. I think the Earl and Rich’s story was an excuse he told himself to deny his true fears. Of course, he was afraid of Earl’s death, but he was really afraid of his "abnormal" feelings…he was really ashamed of the fact he could be a queer. I think that Ennis changed in so many ways and I think that if Jack were alive he would do things better than before, but I also think that Ennis was still keeping without accept his sexuality; changing and loving Jack without fears is not the same than accepting you real sexuality. I think that he never would talk about it with somebody. So, for me, as long as Ennis don't accept his real gay condition he couldn't live openly with Jack or at least he couldn't have a fine and normal relationship with him, 'cause, if you are ashamed of loving somebody 'cause that fact changed you into a person who you are ashamed of being (queer), how could you try to do it again? Again, I don’t know….

Well, I think as Ennis loved Jack so much and so deeply, if he had a second chance he would do it all again and again (loving Jack, making love to him, quit jobs for him….), but sadly I’m not sure if he would live with Jack, at least, not in that place, and, maybe, not in that age……

I have a lot of ideas in my mind, but you know I can’t put them in English, sorry so much….

  MPJ, yeah, yesterday you caught me……you caught me in some many ways......

[myprivatejack]

   Tammy,thanks for your words; at least,I didn´t make you cry¡
Well,it´s really difficult to theorize about human feelings when you´re not writing a novel,but speaking about some feelings and reactions that could easily be mine or yours...I don´t really think Earl and Rich´s story was neither an Ennis´invention nor an excuse to deny his own fears;on the contrary,I think this was the main and central reason of what happenned between them.Ennis´ fears about the two men´s fate as a child made him be afraid of his "abnormal "feelings when young man.It´s what made him think in the sin´s notion,but also made him felt attracted to the "forbidden fruit", as it generally happens when your wishes and feelings are constrained for a long time.But he never felt easy with his feelings

[manhattangirl]

babytammy7:

That's why this question is so great.  What you've said I totally agree.  This is a question of "acceptance",  we all know Ennis loved Jack, no question about that, but would this make Ennis accept who he is, finally say "I'm going to take the reins of my life, and live it ".  

This is Ennis battling Ennis for the love of the one person he wanted more than anything in his life, Jack, but how could he get pass himself to accept even the idea that this who he was, and Jack was who he loved.  

Hatred of oneself is more devastating than any tire iron.

[jackster]

IMO Ennis may have wanted to change, but found he couldn’t as some have said. We don’t always get what we want no matter how hard we try, but sometimes we find we get what we need.

The keys to my thinking here are Annie’s last paragraphs:

Around that time Jack began to appear in his dreams, Jack as he had first seen him, curly headed and smiling and buck toothed, talking about getting up off his pockets and into the control zone, but the can of beans with the spoon handle jutting out and balanced on the log was there as well, in a cartoon shape and lurid colors that gave the dreams a flavor of comic obscenity. The spoon handle was the kind that could be used as a tire iron. And he would wake sometimes in grief, sometimes with the old sense of joy and release; the pillow sometimes wet, sometimes the sheets.

There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can't fix it you've got to stand it.

He dreams of Jack, and in his dreams Jack IS still there, still alive, but Ennis wavers between joy and grief. The same demons he struggled with when Jack was alive, the joy of loving Jack and the grief of knowing what this love means (he’s queer).

[myprivatejack]

I agree with you Jackster,specially in the last part of your post.As I´m working I must go before,but I was going to say that,if sin´s notion repelled,but also attracted him,the fact is that he never felt easy with his feelings;but,although the reason of these feelings was alive,-with all the happinness and good purposes that it meant-,the feelings keep on existing-with all the shame,the grief and the fears that it also meant-.For this reason,I said before that the lesson  that as "healing" he learned was horrible,but the "illness" he must be cured against,also was...;I think he would live with Jack then,but having an inner battle between,as Jackster says,joy and grief,the illness and its healing...And,if Tammy said,to live completely and openly with another man,with all the consequences,it had to be another place or even another age.Maybe another man?.

[tpe]

Maybe having tried for so long to live a half-life with Jack, then having lost him and seen how empty life was without him, had Jack been miraculously restored to him he might have decided that Jack had been right all along, and that taking the rsik of being together was worth it - anything rather than emptiness and isolation....maybe.

That's a wonderful way of putting it, WW: a half-life.  It really was, wasn't it?  And yet you are correct: the contrast between a half-life and no life at all is probably enough to push him over the edge.

[tpe]

Excellent Thomas! Even though "Jack, I swear" can have many interpetations it is the fact that "Jack had never asked him to swear anything and was himself not the swearing kind." (AP) that makes that an even more powerful declaration from him- at least IMO.

Thanks, LJN.    I do think that if there is a certainly in these words, it would be an overriding sense of commitment.  For Ennis, that signifies a world of change.

[tpe]

babytammy7:

That's why this question is so great.  What you've said I totally agree.  This is a question of "acceptance",  we all know Ennis loved Jack, no question about that, but would this make Ennis accept who he is, finally say "I'm going to take the reins of my life, and live it ".   

This is Ennis battling Ennis for the love of the one person he wanted more than anything in his life, Jack, but how could he get pass himself to accept even the idea that this who he was, and Jack was who he loved.  

Hatred of oneself is more devastating than any tire iron.

Well said.  I interpret this the same way.

[tpe]

IMO Ennis may have wanted to change, but found he couldn’t as some have said. We don’t always get what we want no matter how hard we try, but sometimes we find we get what we need.

The keys to my thinking here are Annie’s last paragraphs:

Around that time Jack began to appear in his dreams, Jack as he had first seen him, curly headed and smiling and buck toothed, talking about getting up off his pockets and into the control zone, but the can of beans with the spoon handle jutting out and balanced on the log was there as well, in a cartoon shape and lurid colors that gave the dreams a flavor of comic obscenity. The spoon handle was the kind that could be used as a tire iron. And he would wake sometimes in grief, sometimes with the old sense of joy and release; the pillow sometimes wet, sometimes the sheets.

There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can't fix it you've got to stand it.

He dreams of Jack, and in his dreams Jack IS still there, still alive, but Ennis wavers between joy and grief. The same demons he struggled with when Jack was alive, the joy of loving Jack and the grief of knowing what this love means (he’s queer).

This is true, but I think the demon of grief here is that of losing Jack, as much as the joy is that of being with him.

I think the dreams signify a wanting for Jack to be back.  The images of horror are indeed those of the tire-iron: of intolerance that continues to dominate the seemingly unchanging world.

But I feel that it is not fear of the tire iron is not what drives Ennis to tears -- I believ that they are tears of regret, and not tears of fear.

This is whay I think that something has significantly changed within Ennis.

[manhattangirl]

IMO Ennis may have wanted to change, but found he couldn’t as some have said. We don’t always get what we want no matter how hard we try, but sometimes we find we get what we need.

The keys to my thinking here are Annie’s last paragraphs:

Around that time Jack began to appear in his dreams, Jack as he had first seen him, curly headed and smiling and buck toothed, talking about getting up off his pockets and into the control zone, but the can of beans with the spoon handle jutting out and balanced on the log was there as well, in a cartoon shape and lurid colors that gave the dreams a flavor of comic obscenity. The spoon handle was the kind that could be used as a tire iron. And he would wake sometimes in grief, sometimes with the old sense of joy and release; the pillow sometimes wet, sometimes the sheets.

There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can't fix it you've got to stand it.

He dreams of Jack, and in his dreams Jack IS still there, still alive, but Ennis wavers between joy and grief. The same demons he struggled with when Jack was alive, the joy of loving Jack and the grief of knowing what this love means (he’s queer).

Than my question is:  Would Jack let him continue in this way of thinking and living, or finally say enough is enough, "I'm not living this way any longer, choose". 

I don't see Jack putting up with the status quo.  If Ennis wasn't willing to make any changes, Jack could stay gone this time, and never return.  What would Ennis than do? 

This is where love, proof of love, the need for love emerges.  Don't we have to make the difficult choices when it comes to life, how we want to live it, and all the fear that goes along with it when we think we've lost the one thing we love and than have it back, in those days of loss we think, really think of what it meant to us. 

If Ennis still continued in the same way of thinking when given a second chance, and not even try in the smallest way, like seeing Jack more than twice a year or staying with him longer than a week, than he is some one who refuses to see what he had and what he could have lost, and I can't even say  he loved Jack to the point of risking it all.

I'm I wrong on this.

[babytammy7]

Well,it´s really difficult to theorize about human feelings when you´re not writing a novel,but speaking about some feelings and reactions that could easily be mine or yours...I don´t really think Earl and Rich´s story was neither an Ennis´invention nor an excuse to deny his own fears;on the contrary,I think this was the main and central reason of what happenned between them.Ennis´ fears about the two men´s fate as a child made him be afraid of his "abnormal "feelings when young man.It´s what made him think in the sin´s notion,but also made him felt attracted to the "forbidden fruit", as it generally happens when your wishes and feelings are constrained for a long time.But he never felt easy with his feelings

Oh MPJ, I’m not saying that Ennis invented Earl and Rich’s story (Annie didn’t tell us that it was an invention), and of course, Ennis was afraid of being killed!! But I think that Earl’s story was also an “excuse” that sometimes he told himself to not face his (for me) most important fear: being a queer!!!

Oh, I hate disagree with you ‘cause I really love your thoughts sweety!!! 

[jackster]

. . Would Jack let him continue in this way of thinking and living, or finally say enough is enough, "I'm not living this way any longer, choose". 

I don't see Jack putting up with the status quo. If Ennis wasn't willing to make any changes, Jack could stay gone this time, and never return. . . .

I know there's two ways (at least) people look at this. I'm in the group that don't see Jack walking out. Nope, won't happen, not Jack Twist. To me, it's not in Jack's character. Not after 20 years, if he was gonna' walk away it woulda' been after the divorce. But his love wouldn't allow it then either. What I tried to say above was that maybe now (after a Jack near death experience) Ennis sees and WANTS to change but isn't able to (yet). I think Jack, being compassionate as he is, would tune in on this emotional conflict. And his compassion at seeing his lover struggle with these emotions wouldn't allow him to leave. He needs to be there to help him make the change, to be born again, as his Pentecostal mother would say. That's the way Jack Twist would deal with this IMHO.

[babytammy7]

I know there's two ways (at least) people look at this. I'm in the group that don't see Jack walking out. Nope, won't happen, not Jack Twist. To me, it's not in Jack's character. Not after 20 years, if he was gonna' walk away it woulda' been after the divorce. But his love wouldn't allow it then either. What I tried to say above was that maybe now (after a Jack near death experience) Ennis sees and WANTS to change but isn't able to (yet). I think Jack, being compassionate as he is, would tune in on this emotional conflict. And his compassion at seeing his lover struggle with these emotions wouldn't allow him to leave. He needs to be there to help him make the change, to be born again, as his Pentecostal mother would say. That's the way Jack Twist would deal with this IMHO.

I totally agree with you!!! As my post say, I'm in that group too. Ennis wanted to change but he didn't know how to do it, and besides, I think he was still afraid of or ashamed of being a queer. Though you loving somebody so much it's so difficult and painful too struggle with 40 years of fears. Just my opinion. Well, I think I have a vision of love a little bit bittersweet.

[myprivatejack]

Hi,Tammy I think  we don´t disagree,we´re speaking the same language,but with different dialect,in the case of Ennis´fears...I  meant that Earl and Rich´s story was gruesome enough for his child mind as to create his posterior fears.In any case,the "excuse" was not to face,exactly,that it could happen to him because he was with another man,what was denying to himself during half his life.This,joined to his existential motto "If you can´t fix it,you´ve got to stand it",made the rest.40 years of having all this ideas strongly established don´t change so easily,no matter how great has been the blow one has received.I said that a strong struggle must have done.IMO.

[tpe]

I am always torn between the two poles: whether or not thay would have transcended their differences inevitably, had they been given the time.

My feelings are clear: I would have wanted the transcendence to be so. 

But I also acknowledge that there is transcendence in final separation -- in death and despair, even.  Loss is not so fatal if one knows that one has been touched.  And by one touch, no matter how fleeting, one can be redeemed.

[lamusica]

I know there's two ways (at least) people look at this. I'm in the group that don't see Jack walking out. Nope, won't happen, not Jack Twist. To me, it's not in Jack's character. Not after 20 years, if he was gonna' walk away it woulda' been after the divorce. But his love wouldn't allow it then either. What I tried to say above was that maybe now (after a Jack near death experience) Ennis sees and WANTS to change but isn't able to (yet). I think Jack, being compassionate as he is, would tune in on this emotional conflict. And his compassion at seeing his lover struggle with these emotions wouldn't allow him to leave. He needs to be there to help him make the change, to be born again, as his Pentecostal mother would say. That's the way Jack Twist would deal with this IMHO.

You are SOOOOOO on my wave length with this opinion.  While Jack is much more daring and willing to take the big risks in life, he recognizes that Ennis can't do the same.  Ennis can't be what he isn't; he can't all of a sudden change and be the person Jack would like him to be -- warmer, more outgoing, more expressive of his love for Jack.  So, I'm with you on this one, jackster.  Jack loves Ennis and that means he forives him for not being everything he wished he was, including not being willing to live openly with Jack.  This hurts Jack, I'm sure, and causes him grief and loneliness, but Ennis is Ennis and love overlooks the object's flaws.

[lightnin flat]

 



               I did say in your [favourite scene of the movie thread] i just cant see jack  quitting ennis ,walking away for ever never knowing what he is doing who he is with where he is but knowing ennis he would never have moved far from riverton.  
                   Given ennis his time over again  i dont think anything would have changed his way of thinking
                   he thought that way for 20 years obviously after jack died he wish he had done things differently but if jack was to reappear no i dont think he would change. jack was always ready and waiting for this change in his life but ennis was never ready.Another reason he could of feared was that if he lived with jack he could of been worried for his daughters not what they thought of him but what other peoples reactions would be to them they would of come in for some stick surely.                        

                  two men living together no way and ennis was going to stick to that i think.  

                   Perhaps its just wishful thinking on my part that jack would never QUIT.

              
 

[aintfoolin]

I know there's two ways (at least) people look at this. I'm in the group that don't see Jack walking out. Nope, won't happen, not Jack Twist. To me, it's not in Jack's character. Not after 20 years, if he was gonna' walk away it woulda' been after the divorce. But his love wouldn't allow it then either. What I tried to say above was that maybe now (after a Jack near death experience) Ennis sees and WANTS to change but isn't able to (yet). I think Jack, being compassionate as he is, would tune in on this emotional conflict. And his compassion at seeing his lover struggle with these emotions wouldn't allow him to leave. He needs to be there to help him make the change, to be born again, as his Pentecostal mother would say. That's the way Jack Twist would deal with this IMHO.

 I don't see him walking out either.
 I'm also in the camp that Ennis would not only live with Jack after this experience , but he would have welcomed it imo. As long as Ennis wanted to change there is hope which if this scenario had happened , I think he would have wanted to more than ever.
 Now I am NOT saying that Ennis would totally change up overnight, no siree! , this will take time, but the willingness to deal with the inner fears  of childhood would be much greater.  More of a willingness to work through them, not so easlily convincing of himself to toss love and life with Jack aside like in the past. not even ever be completely open about his feelings , but I feel  that his would be a quiet steady love for Jack so like Ennis himself. The stage is now set  with what he knows, for Jack to help him complete his life with him in it.

They both would have a new start, like on Brokeback, only with lessons learned, perhaps Ennis learning to leave the past behind with a whole new perspective of what Jack really means to him.  Remember, they're not young 19 year olds any longer.

 I think he learned what it means to love Jack more than he loved himself there in Jack's closet. I don't see how he could deny himself, or Jack a full life again had this happened. I believe that people can change with the right motivation, even stubborn ,complicated ,ornery ol' Ennis. We don't know for sure that Ennis was gay or not, but one thing is for sure, whatever he thinks he feels for Jack is now undeniably real to him in every sense of the word.
With  having the one who means  the world to him and everything , restored to him alive and well after thinking him lost to him  ( and especially the  vision of the way he thinks Jack died?) forever? Would he be a changed man enough to risk it? Think he'd say "f-ck tire irons, and the rest," I'm choosin Jack"

 " Jack, I swear" he said.  Call me a hopelss romantic, an idealist, but I'd bet on it. MO.