Pursuing Happiness is a Choice; From the movie Pursuit of Happiness
We are each on our own pursuit for happiness. As human beings we seek every day to do things that make us happy, but many times we encounter people who seem happier than we are. The truth is that these people may actually be happier because happiness is a choice that you can bring into your own life. We all see people who society classifies as having everything, but they are still not happy. Then there are people who have very little and yet seem to be some of the happiest people you have ever met. What makes this difference?
The movie The Pursuit of Happyness is a great example of someone who has little to nothing but chooses to be happy and not let the circumstances of his life slow him down. The main character Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith) goes through his own pursuit for happiness even though he has many dark and hard moments. His choice to be optimistic and push forward ultimately gives him the power to be happy.
It is almost impossible to watch this movie and not start looking at your own life and the challenges that you can simply change if you just choose to be happy. Chris Gardner keeps his head up and moves towards his own pursuit of happiness. If we choose to be motivated by this character, then we will either start on a pursuit for our own happiness or continue to strengthen the pursuit we are currently on.
When looking at the word pursuit we generally think of pursuing someone or something either from a safe distance or in a direct way where we could catch that person or thing. In the context of this movie, the word pursuit means making steps forward or jumping to push ahead of the place where you currently are. Chris Gardner has to push and fight to get out of what seems like a bottomless hole. In the beginning scenes of the movie we see how passionate Chris really is. He takes his son to school every day before he goes out and sells medical scanners, machines that took all of his money to buy. On the wall of his son’s school someone has spray painted “f*ck happiness.” Chris asks the janitor to clean the words off the wall as soon as possible so his son does not have to see that negativity when walking into school every day. He also points out that the word happyness is spelled wrong. As the movie progresses, Chris Gardner’s true personality shines through and we see how he really is motivated to make his life and his son’s life better by pushing forward with a positive, happy attitude and by never giving up.
Divorce is becoming a more and more common thing in today’s world, and in Chris Gardner’s life this is no exception. Because of the unsuccessful way things had been going with Chris selling his medical scanners, lots of stress was being added to his relationship with his wife. Over time all of the usually small things that couples deal with start to push this couple apart. Finally, the stress that builds up on his wife and the lack of attention from Chris due to his working pushes his wife to the point that she decides to leave her son and husband on their own. When the times got hard and money got tight, her stress became too much for her to stay. This event was the beginning of Chris’s life as a single parent, and his stress continues to increase from there. Now he is working all day and leaving his son in daycare all day. Then he must rush to pick up his son after work and try to make it to the homeless shelter in time to get a room for the night. There are many times that they do not make it to the shelter in time and have to find another place to sleep.
Being poor, homeless, and a single parent does not stop Chris from pursuing a better life and accomplishing his goal and ambitions. He still fights for what he wants. As the movie continues we see that his love for his son is at the top of his list of priorities. He always thinks about how he can make his son’s life better. His son is the one source from where he draws his motivation to keep fighting for success. In one of the famous scenes from the movie, Chris and his son are playing basketball on a rooftop and he tells his son not to try too hard with the sport because his son will never be above average. Chris then stops himself and thinks about what he is saying. Then, turning to his son he says, “…don’t let anyone stop you from reaching your dreams, not even me.” This shows the closeness between father and son and the realization that you should never stop trying because you are the one person who controls your own outcome. Chris believes success depends solely on his own efforts and does not come from fate or luck.
Life always hits hard. Many times it feels like the challenges never let up. We are all going to have things in our lives that will be hard, and we never can know exactly what will happen or what people will say or do. The only control we have is over our own actions and how we choose to fight back against the hard hits of life. Chris experiences many of these moments, but he always chooses to be proactive and continue to move forward towards his end goal. As the movie comes to an end, we see that Chris Gardner has reached his goal; he is successful, makes good money, and can provide a good life for his son. This helps the film reach its climax where Chris has sold all of his medical scanners and has just finished his internship. He has no job, but he has no more scanners to sale and is just waiting to see if he has passed the broker firm test. He takes a break and gets a hotel room to relax. After all we can do, even when we are just sitting and waiting, we still deserve a break after working hard. There are times in our own lives where we will work extra hard and really need a break. To be successful and happy, we must remember that breaks are important.
The story from the film The Pursuit of Happyness teaches us that being a hard worker pays off. When we need or want something, we have to work for it. Life does not give very many free handouts. Chris Gardner was in a very low spot in his own life, but he chose to do all that he could to get out of that low spot. He went to work every day, got an internship just to gain the knowledge he needed to be successful, and even slept in bathrooms all while taking care of his son. When Chris wanted something he went after it. He saw that his life needed to change and he needed to provide a better life for his son. By looking at his current situation and choosing not to look at the negatives, Chris did not leave his life up to fate or luck but instead made his own luck by going out and getting the things he wanted. He allowed his son and the people he encountered to give him the motivation to keep pursuing his own happiness. Instead of looking ahead and only seeing a pile of challenges, he focused on being happy and wanting to be happy. He pursued happiness.
We are all in charge of our own lives. It is not up to other people to get us to a spot where we feel successful and happy. Sometimes making sacrifices and forgoing things in our lives to end up where we want to be is just part of the journey. We may not get or keep everything we want. Chris lost his marriage and was homeless, but his attitude helped him overcome those challenges and ultimately stay happy and be successful. This story sets a very good example for how we can pursue happiness in our own lives by the choices we make each day.
