Pursuit of Happyness
After viewing this film over the weekend I felt compelled to get some things out in the open. This is the story of Chris Gardner a man who spends his lift savings to buy a exclusive rights to sell a bone density scanner in the New York Area only to discover that they don’t sell as well as he would have hoped. He then hits a streak of bad luck where he and his son spend their lives on the streets while he pursues an internship at Dean Whiter. As in the perfect Hollywood ending Chris gets the job, and eventually opens his on trading house and eventually sells it in a multi-million dollar deal. The only thing I could think of while watching this movie was…
“GET A JOB YOU FREAKIN BUM” This guy had his wife working double shifts for months while he tried to unload this piece of crap equipment that he bought because he knew nothing about the medical field. Why didn’t he go and get a night job and provide for his family? Why would he chase an almost impossible dream while he and his son fought for spots in a homeless shelter? He wasn’t hurt he was capable of working why didn’t he just suck it up and get a job? Just because it worked out for one guy is not a reason he should be admired, there are millions of men it doesn’t work out for and they spend their lives and their families’ lives spinning their wheels instead of taking responsibility for their actions and doing the right thing.
This movie will only help to propagate the lottery mentality that our culture has. Don’t work hard just get lucky. I would love to see the wreckage of the other thousands of guys who tried that line and have ended up anywhere from killing themselves to just being resentful and angry because the world owes them something.
The Bible is clear “People who don’t take care of their relatives, and especially their own families, have given up their faith. They are worse than someone who doesn’t have faith in the Lord.” This is one of my problems with church staffing, many don’t pay men enough to take care of their families but demand 60+ hours a week, and we wonder why there are more women becoming pastors than there are men, men can’t afford it.
2 responses to “The Pursuit of Happyness”
What?!?!?!? I have to disagree with you on this one. I understand where you are comming from but Chris Gardner wasn’t a bum not willing to work – He hit the streets everyday trying to sell those machines. Yes – it was a bad investment but I don’t think I can give anyone a hard time about making a bad investment – I’ve made a few myself.
Hollywood exagerated the story as they often do — His internship wasn’t without pay – he was given $1000 a month. That’s not a lot, but he was able to rent a place at a group home. His wife did leave him with their son while he was in jail for unpaid parking tickets but when his wife came back to drop off his son four months later because she no longer wanted custody, he was not homeless or unemployed. The place he was staying would not accept children and he was unable to find a place that would for the rent he could afford.
You can read more about his real story here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Gardner
But as it was presented in the movie, which is all 99% of America will ever know, he was a bum. Unless he was contractually obligated he should have cut his losses and got a real job instead of making his wife work doubles, or he should have been working two jobs. The movie makes him out to be a “Get rich quick” guy and I fear many may follow his example.