Pursuit of Happyness

"
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
— Declaration of Independence

I saw a very intense movie with my wife and another couple just before vacation called the Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith. It is based on the true life story of Chris Gardner who sacrificed everything in the pursuit of his dream of making it to Wall Street. My wife was expecting something a little lighter, so be prepared for a serious movie about perseverance.

I am thinking about taking my kids to it to reinforce two things: 1) that like on the Chicago North Shore is not the norm and that large parts of America struggle to make ends meet (versus crying over not getting a new pair of Healy’s) and 2) the power of perseverance and having dreams. In this story Gardner risks it all to give his son a better life. It is a very moving story. In one scene (in the ads so I’m not ruining much), he is homeless and has to spend a night in the train station bathroom with his son. It tugs at your heart to see him trying to keep his son asleep as the tears flow while someone continuously knocks on the door to get in.

It puts things into perspective; it highlights how what we view as tragic or important in our daily lives is more disappointment and inconvenience; it also shows how close success and failure are and that nothing in life is guaranteed.

Critics liked Smith’s performance but thought it over reaching at times. I don’t disagree, but a cool movie overall.

— Matt "VC Ebert in training" McCall…