The movie The Pursuit Of Happyness contains a scene where the father Chris, played by Will Smith, goes with his son to the basketball court. The son makes a shot, and then the father tells his son that he didn’t turn out to be good at basketball, and that the same would be the case for him, so he shouldn’t spend too much time practicing it. The son gets discouraged, drops the ball, and then starts to pack it into a plastic bag to take it away unused. The following is what the father then says:
Don’t ever let somebody tell you you can’t do something, not even me. Alright? You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want something, go get it, period.
Others Are Watchfully Comparing
Very few movies send a valuable message to the viewer, and there are a couple of concepts presented here. One of the points being made is that others will try to prevent you from doing something, not based on some sort of support for you in preventing you from making a mistake, but to keep you from completing a task they were unable to complete, thus separating you from them in that characteristic.
It Is Only Your Desire If You Are Reaching For It Right Now
For the second point, the father tells the son that if he wants something, he should get it, with no questions asked. This point can help to repeat during the day. If you are not reaching for something, is it really your desire? This will keep you from saying something like “I want to be X” or “I want X” to other people, when you really don’t want either, and are not motivated to work toward either one. Also, the line said in the movie reminds us that the desire is there for the taking. It is right there in front of you. When you read that line, you knew exactly what the “it” was for your current predicament.
Challenging Others With Positive Intent Is Most Beneficial
The father in the scene challenges the son. He first discourages him, and then before the discouragement sets in, he gets a message through to him about not accepting others trying to limit his ability. This type of challenging is the way to go because it is based on positive intent. Others can sense when you have positive intent very easily, and if this is paired up with a challenge, they will know you are wanting them to become better.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great message mate
Great scene, Brilliant film.