Happyness

Last night, Trish and I celebrated our six month wedding "anniversary," albeit two days late. Saturday I had promised Trish a date, but then ended up working so long on a funding proposal for my business that our "date" turned out to be spending time together on the couch while she edited my proposal (and did a great job). (BTW I guess the word "anniversary" can't be used to mark something that's not annual, but I'm not sure what is a better word to use. Ideas? (Bec?))

So after I submitted it on Monday, we chose to have our date later that evening. We watched The Pursuit of Happyness, (sic) the 2006 film with Will Smith. We both found this movie to be thought-provoking, and even throughout today it's been running through my mind.

In the film, Will Smith is a young father whose wife leaves him at the start of the film because he's not pulling his load as a breadwinner. He maintains custody of their preschooler, and gets an unpaid internship at Dean Whitter to try to get a jump start on his career. The internship lasts six months, and at the end, only one person out of the twenty in the program will get a job--everyone else gets nothing. In the meantime, he can't pay for their apartment anymore, so he and his son end up staying at a homeless shelter. It's a fascinating juxtaposition as Will Smith spends half his day trying to earn a job as a stockbroker, talking with white shirts who have too much money, then needs to leave early to pick up his boy from daycare and get a good place in line at the homeless shelter so they don't have to spend the night on the street. No one at the office realizes how poor he is--he's the only one who knows, and he hides it well, without feeling sorry for himself.

I found myself being more sensitive today as I interacted with other people, being more aware that probably everyone has heavy burdens they are carrying that they don't feel they could ever share in a socially responsible way. I believe that if we were truly aware of everything going on in the lives of those around us, we'd be amazed at how well they're managing and much more eager to lend a helping hand.