The Pursuit of Happyness

I just finished watching the movie The Pursuit of Happyness staring Will Smith, Thandie Newton and Jaden Smith. Sure the movie is  four years old, but I was in two minds about viewing it at the time it came out in the theatres. Like I said I procrastinate. I've watch Will Smith when he first started out in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and seen his early dramatic work in Six Degrees of Separation. There's no doubt that he is a good comedic actor but is he a good actor? Yes he is. He's not a great actor, yet, but the talent is there. I'll like to see him in more dramatic roles though.

The pursuit of happiness is something that we are all engaged in. You, me, all of us. We are all in the search for that which gives our lives meaning and joy whether that be a family, a satisfying job, spiritual growth, money in the bank or a roof over our head. But that's the wonderful thing. What makes you happy may not be what makes me happy but in the end despite our differences we are united in the pursuit of this happiness however it is defined. There was an interesting point that was raised in the movie about success equaling happiness. It also begs the question what is success? How do we define success and would you recognise it if you had it. There is a myth perpetuated by our Western society. Our parents, teachers and community leaders are all in cahoots with the myth and victims of the myth.The story goes that you go to school, get an education and get a good job and you will be successful and thus happy in life. I think many of us out there would agree that this is not a reality we live with in our day to day lives. There are a lot of university degree holders holding jobs that don't require a degree and  hence according to the tenements of our society are failures so cannot be happy. Just as there are a lot of people who don't have a high school or college education and therefore according to the rules should not be successful, and yet they are and happy. So what is going on?

Success (however you choose to define it) and happiness are not mutually exclusive terms but are two sides of the same corrupted coin. However that coin cannot be flipped without the hard work of your hands and where it lands depends of the wind of luck. It's said that success is 90% hard work and 10% luck. There is an element of truth in that. You cannot expect to achieve your goals if you are not willing to put in the research, follow it up by hard work and if you plan things just right, maybe, just maybe, you'll have a little bit of Lady Luck. However you think of success, you will need to plan for it. One of my favourite quotes from a friend of mine is Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. You can't have success if you don't know what it is and plan for it. You want to get married stop living like a singleton, create room in your life for another person. You want a child look start examining the various options, single parent, IVF, surrogacy or adoptions . Don't just wish your life away. People who wish their lives away end up with nothing but dreams, and we all know dreams are like mist. If you want to do something do it. As the character Will Smith said to his son, never let anyone tell you you cant do something, not even me. You want something go out there and get it, period.

I don't want anyone to leave here with the idea that this will be easy. If you compare yourself with other people and their present success to your lack of success you will always think they had it easy and lots of luck. But you'll only know half the story. You'll never truly know what other people have had to go though to achieve what little they have in their lives. I once heard this story told of a father who lived at the bottom of a mountain with his four sons. One year he asked his four sons to climb to the top of the mountain. At the top of this mountain was a large tree. "Tell  me what you see," he said. The first son climbed up to the tree in winter and reported back to his father that he saw a cold dead tree with no leaves, the second son climbed in spring and reported a green tree covered in water droplets, flowing sap, the third son  reported a sunny day with a tree open wide to the sky to provide shade, and abundant fruit and the fourth son reported a chilly day with a tree full of yellow, orange and red leaves on the tree and ground. The fours sons began to argue, each calling the other a liar, each swearing what the tree actually looked like. The father put a stop to the disagreement and said that they were all right. He explained that each son saw the same tree in a different season. "That tree," he said "was like a person. When we see someone and judge them we are judging them in one season of their life not their whole life. And unless you stay with that person their entire life you could never truly know the whole person."

In the end I thought the movie was a bit long, though the message was worth the wait. But that parallels life doesn't it. When we are in the middle of all the craziness that's happening around us we think it's long and will never end. This movie reminds me that it is not the end but the journey that counts. It's when things look the darkness that I've got to remember to shine that light, keep believing in myself and never give up the pursuit of happiness.

P.S. How many people saw the cameo by the real Chris Garner at the end of the movie?