Pursuit of Happyness


The Declaration of Independence holds out a promise for the nation it seeks to charter:
"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 . . ."
This promise of happiness forms the philosophical basis, if you will, of the Will Smith film The Pursuit of Happyness. It gets quoted regularly throughout the film.

It wasn't until last night that I watched it on DVD, but it was worth the wait. The premise of the film is tell the true story of Chris Gardner, an African-American high school graduate with a young son who overcomes great odds to achieve financial success. It's a kind of a Horatio Alger, from the bootstraps kind of story, but it is an impressive one, nonetheless. I've not read the book upon which its based and I've not checked the facts behind the movie, but even if it exaggerates at all the difficulties Chris experienced in becoming a stock broker, it's still a good story.

Of course the question is, what is happiness, and for Chris it is achieving the unexpected, the working hard with no certainty of reward, and through hard work and a bit of luck and significant but under-utilized talent he succeeds. I said to wife, I don't think I could do what he did. He and Chris, Jr. essentially became homeless while he pursued his dream.

Good movie with an inspiring story. And Will's kid, Jaden, is a natural as an actor!

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