The Pursuit of Happyness

For those of you who don't know I am a huge movie buff. I love going to the movies but with kids and a wife who doesn't like to go to the movies, my movie trips have significantly diminished over the years. I still go from time to time (I am the lame guy sitting all alone with his soda and bucket of popcorn) but I have become far more of a DVD kinda guy. That's why I simply LOVE Netflix and the vast array of movies, documentaries and newly discovered concerts that are just a mouse click away.

Last night was my semi-regular movie night and boy did I watch a good one. I had intended to see The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith when it was in the theaters but never got around to it. I had heard it was an amazing movie and very inspirational so I was excited when it landed in my mailbox fresh from Netflix yesterday.

The movie is about Christopher Gardner, a man that literally faced insurmountable odds to provide for his son and to create the life that he knew he was destined to have. Here is a brief summary from Christopher's website as to what he faced:

Always hard working and tenacious, a series of circumstances in the early 1980’s left Gardner homeless in San Francisco and the sole guardian of his toddler son. Unwilling to give up Chris Jr. or his dream of financial independence, Gardner started at the bottom. Without connections or a college degree, he earned a spot in the Dean Witter Reynolds training program. Often spending his nights in a church shelter or the bathroom at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Oakland, Gardner was the sole trainee offered a job at Dean Witter Reynolds in 1981. He spent 1983-1987 at Bear Stearns & Co., where he became a top earner, and then in 1987, he founded the brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co. in Chicago.

I can not tell you how inspirational I found this movie and ultimately this man to be. The odds he had to overcome in an effort to make his life work stands as yet another example of just what is possible if you truly, truly believe in yourself and have a little faith.

If you have a dream of being somewhere other than where you are today, take a page from Christopher Gardner. Go pursue your Happyness (watch the movie and you will understand).

Thank you Mr. Gardner for helping reignite my passion for pursuing my happyness.

Ripple On!!!


Steve Harper