The pursuit of Happyness

This was the movie I watched last Saturday at Nanay D. and Tatay T.'s place. The thriller of the movie was featured in one of the films I watched at Ate Eve's place 2 weekends ago. I find the story nice and remembered that Nanay and Tatay have the DVD, so I decided to watched it and the rest of my sisters also watched, though some of them have already seen the movie before.

It was really indeed a very nice movie and it's based on a true story. The story was very inspiring and touching. Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is really an inspiration as he keeps on going and fighting the misfortunes that he encounters with his family without complaining about the situation. His wife left him as the financial problem worsened and took their child with her. But Chris pleaded that their son should be with him and the wife agrees.

It was really tear-jerking seeing the father and son struggling in their day to day life. And I learned a lot of lessons from the movie. 1). To never complain about the problems that come our way, instead, work hard to solve the problem. 2). Continue to be happy in every situation that you are in. 3). Strive hard to achieve your dreams. If you want to achieve something, do whatever it takes to achieve it and never stop striving until you reach it. 4). and most importantly, call God for guidance and help.

Here's a synopsis of the movie from Wikipedia:

The film begins in 1981 in San Francisco, California. Linda and Chris Gardner live in a small apartment with their son, Christopher. Chris has invested the family's life savings in a franchise selling portable bone density scanners. These scanners provide slightly denser pictures than X-rays, but most of the doctors Chris visits find that they are too high-priced. Linda works in a dead-end job in a local hotel laundry. The tension between them mounts as unpaid rent and bills continue to accumulate. Chris often parks his car in disallowed areas so he can make scheduled appointments on time, and after parking tickets remain unpaid, their car is impounded. After missing a shift at her job, Linda finally leaves without their son Christopher, returns briefly, then departs for New York City, where a better job awaits her, leaving behind the boy at his father's request.

Chris accepts an unpaid internship at a brokerage firm Dean Witter Reynolds that promises employment to only one trainee at its conclusion. His lack of salary, and his lack of scanners to try and sell, leaves him riddled with debt, he and his son eventually become homeless. After spending several nights riding buses and sleeping in subway restrooms, saddled with their meager belongings, they begin lining up at the Glide Memorial Church on a daily basis in an effort to secure accommodations for the night. Sometimes they succeed, other times they literally are left out in the cold. As he struggles to provide a semblance of a family life for his son under the most dire of circumstances, Chris becomes more determined to complete the intern program and become the sole trainee the firm will hire.

In the end, Chris gets the job and later starts his own brokerage firm in 1987. Then in 2006 he sells a minority of it for a multi-million dollar deal.

After watching the movie, I was ashamed of myself coz I realized how stupid I am for always complaining about almost anything when Chris never complains even if his situation is already very confusing and very difficult. I made a promise to do my best to never complain anymore, instead, be thankful to God for all the graces and just strive hard.