Christopher Gardner: It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in
there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and
maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know
that?
The pursuit of Happyness is a movie based on a true story. It's
about a man struggle to survive with his son by his side. It's very
touching, depressing at the same time very inspirational in a twisted
way to me. Maybe I'm just a sentimental guy with a sensitive side, I
really do feel that movie give me strength. The strength to keep
pushing no matter how hopeless it seems.
After telling his son that he can not be a professional basketball
player and should consider other more realistic option, Chris Gardner
thought for a second and immediately turn to his son and told him,
"don't ever let anybody tell you what you can be, if you have a dream
you got to protect it... Just go for it."
Seeing things just keep getting worse and worse for Chris and his
kid Christopher, one thing after another collapsed on the father and
son. There is a sense of despare and hopelessness that Chris was going
thru. Somehow he keeps it all together out of responsibility of taking
care of his son. I've admired during the ordeal, how Chris Gardner
keeps pushing. Never one time did he ask for money or resort to some
unhonorable ways to survive. He even sell his blood for a few dollars
to get by, that scene absolutely breaks me into tears.
I start to wonder how many people are really striving for all they
could be. I know I can not honestly say that I take my talent as far as
I can go. If you think about it, most people are at least ten times
better off than Chris Gardner, how come they don't work half as hard to
pursuit their "happyness". Naturally a lot of people are taking the
easy way out of things, most would be satisfied when they are feeling
comfortable where they are. It's getting rare that people would step
outside of their own comfort zone and try something new and
challenging, something more risky.
I feel that personally I can not be happy with where I am (a
relatively safe and stable job where nothing exciting ever happens, and
people are just happy to get by each day without making any mistakes.)
Chris Gardner's true story gave me strength to push myself, to refocus.
Whenever I stop pushing because I'm stuck in my comfort zone, I have to
remind myself that I am in a situation that is at least 50 times better
than Chris Gardner, I should be ashamed that if I just give up. Nothing
worthwhile would come easy, I just got to pursuit my own "happyness".