I watched pursuit of happy-ness yesterday and it made me quite sad. You start off with a happy family: a loving wife (Thandie Newton), husband (Will Smith) and their child (Jaden Smith a.k.a. Will Smith’s real son). After a bad investment in expensive and unnecessary medical technology, Will Smith is stuck as a salesman, while his wife works late night shifts at a factory. They live paycheck to paycheck while repaying debt until one day the wife gets so fed up with their stressful life that she leaves, abandoning her hardworking husband and child.
Of course Will Smith later succeeds in his internship and obtains a high paying finance job but instances with his family occur every day. After watching this movie, how can you not grow fearful of how your life will turn out. I dream of raising a family and being the best father and husband I can be, but sometimes unexpected turns of events can ruin the stability of a family. I wonder if my future wife will stick with me through the good times and the bad times and whether or not I have the capability to stand out and really make a difference.
Also, not everyone has the ability to secure a stable job. In the movie, only one person out of the 20+ internship program received the job. Will Smith got it. So what happened to the others? Did they just melt back into the masses of the middle class, forever destined to run the rat race of life? It is this fear of stability that forces so many of us into secure jobs such as investment bankers, consultants, doctors, etc… Of course there are some people who may love their jobs and others who took jobs to support their families, but to the rest of you who went into your field for the pure sake of financial stability, are you happy? Do you wake up every day screaming, “I LOVE MY LIFE” or do you wash your face, look up in the mirror and ask yourself what you are doing with your life?
My life consists of many people whom I would want to support but at the same time, if I ever do go into a career such as finance, I will be pretty damn sure that I’m having a great time doing it.
The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase, if you pursue happiness you’ll never find it.
I have been looking looking around for this kind of information. Will you post some more in future? I’ll be grateful if you will.