The Pursuit of HappYness

I watched The Pursuit of HappYness on Thursday with Liyi and Sharon. A very-worth-it, touching and meaningful show to catch. =)

Simple synopsis:
A rags-to-riches story based on the real life story of Chris Gardner. An unsuccessful salesperson who becomes a single parent to his 5 yr old child and then ends up evicted and homeless with his child. His chance comes when he is offered an internship at a prominent stock-broking firm but the internship is a no-pay job for 6 months…

Main themes: Pursuing your dreams, faith and determination, a father’s love.

You can read more about the show and the actors (Will Smith and his son, Jaden) as well as the real Chris Gardner from this Oprah Winfrey website:

http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200611/20061122/slide_20061122_350_101.jhtml

It’s the kind of show that has scenes that will make you feel for the actors and think about people or events in your life…

Some of the scenes that really touched me and/or made me reflect (not in chronological order or any order of importance):

1) Chris Gardner and Chris junior, homeless and staying overnight at the subway station’s toilet. Chris Gardner pretending it’s a game with his son and they’re staying in a cave for the night… and then weeping when his son falls asleep.
The thoughts and feeling of failure as a parent… as well as the feelings of shock, desperation and despair at the sudden losses..

2) The quarrels and unhappiness between Chris’s wife and him before she left. The worries about money, survival, providing for their child…
Made me reflect and ponder about the difficulties of marriage life. The vows to be with each other in sickness and in health, in poverty and in riches.. and how when you really face the toughest circumstances that are so real and so painful, will your commitment to your vows waver?
Yet another area we so desperately need God to help us with.

3) In the early part of the show where Chris Gardner speaks about his own family where he did not even know who his dad was until he was 28 (if I don’t remember wrongly), and how he made it a point even at a very young age that when he has children, he’ll be a good father to them and teach them that he’ll be with them all the time. And in the show, his fatherly love is really touching- teaching his son to believe in dreams, going without food so his son can have one piece of pizza, buying a sweet with the little money they have, bathing his son at night.. etc. etc.

Reminds me of the late night conversations I used to have with my dad when I was young.. I think I’ll miss this quite a lot when I go overseas.. Fills me also with a gratefulness to my dad for the love and protection he gave me as a child.. that helped me to grow up more secure in family love. Thank you Daddy!
Reminded me also of Shenteng telling me recently that he would want to be a father who’s close to his children because his father is a more traditional Chinese father who isn’t very expressive in love. (this is a change for ST who really doesn’t really like children…haha.)
Think it is also a good reflection time to think about God’s fatherly love for us that is also tender, sacrificial and all-giving.. Thanks Dad (my heavenly one)!

The show is also very inspirational and thought-provoking on the themes of how man needs hope to dream and determination to live it out, as well as what happiness we are pursuing for in life. =)

I think Chris Gardner fought hard for his happiness. One that was actually through the entire tough process, there with him- love and protection for his loved ones, his son. One that is not dependent on money, though he really had to scrape for it. I believe his ultimate happiness came from a satisfied heart knowing that he loves his son, he didn’t give up and he succeeded in providing for his son and that dreams actually can and do come through.

There’s nothing too hard that we can’t live through. Hope that some of us who feel like giving up at the worst moments and pits of our life will find inspiration from Chris Gardner’s life and persevere on. Nothing is impossible with God.