The Pursuit of Happiness (Happyness) Should Not be So Difficult

Today on NPR/WNYC, I was listening to a debate on the question of whether Hollywood fuels anti-Americanism overseas. Later, while watching Will Smith and his most adorable son Jaden portray Christopher Gardner and his son Chris in the Pursuit of Happyness, I thought about why it my be that so many in Hollywood get tagged with that nasty “L” word – you know: Liberal. That “L” word is used so often when those in Hollywood (or the media) simply tell the truth – about poverty, political corruption, injustice, human rights abuses. Somehow the propoganda spin makes some people thing being called the L word is a bad thing,  but most of the time it’s just bad spin on a good thing: caring about the world and speaking out against injustice.

One of my favorite philosophers is the recently deceased John Rawls – his Theory of Justice expounded the idea of a “veil of ignorance”. Simply put, Rawls hypothesized a world where those making the rules for society would go behind a “Veil of ignorance”…Now, you have to use your imagination here – it’s a hypothesis. Imagine a veil, which once you went behind it, you did not know anything about you were when you’d leave the veil – for that moment, you didn’t know your race, class, education level, you didn’t know whether you had a job, disability, or illness, you didn’t know whether you were a billionaire or a homeless man, you didn’t know whether you were a single mother, an immigrant, a stockbroker, an actor or a child with AIDS…Rawls’ point was that because of self-interest rather than any notion of benevolence, those behind the veil would make the most just rules for society, simply because their circumstances could be any once they left the veil. Of course, this is just a hypothesis, but what I always liked about this notion was that it mirrored the idea of putting oneself in someone else’s shoes, imagining what it would be like if…

It is this part of Hollywood – acting and experiencing what others have experienced – even if just playing at it (as Will and Jaden Smith did in The Pursuit of Happyness) that I think makes so many actors more compassionate (or is the word Liberal?), and so outspoken about how the world needs to address its injustices.

On the other hand, it’s hard for me to put myself in the shoes of the so many uncompassionate –those who spout Horatio Alger ideas that people should “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”. I can imagine the likes of Elizabeth Hasselbeck (or the many compassionless Conservatives who think like her) saying that what Christopher Gardner did is proof of the ability for anyone to pursue the American Dream. But the truth is that Christopher Gardner wasn’t “anybody”, and pursuing the dream should not be such a nightmare. I came out of the film thinking: “That type of desperation must make some people commit suicide.”

Those who have a decent, protected, upbringing with parents who love them (and have time to attend to them), with healthcare, a roof over their head, nutrition, and education are amongst the lucky ones. Luck is an important factor – Christopher Gardner was lucky, and he was determined, gifted, and intelligent …and when people like him succeed beyond all the odds, it’s a wonderful thing. But too many don’t and can’t – Not because they’re lazy, or stupid, or make bad choices, but because life is hard anyway, and much harder when you you’re at the bottom slope of the unleveled field. I try to imagine why some people think it’s okay that life is so hard for so many people? Maybe it’s because someone taught them that, but I struggle to “understand” why they can’t see the truth, see the pain, why they can’t feel. I want them to use their imagination, and to just try to imagine “What if it was me? What if that was my lot?”

A question on Millionaire recently asked what someone living on the federal minimum wage earns in a year. I did the math in my head, but said to myself No it can’t be as I recognized the answer in one of the choices. It was about $11,000. How is that possible? I watched a documentary on the minimum wage on PBS some time ago (yes the same PBS that this Admin wanted to cut funding to – how dare they cover such “liberal” issues?) – it was a documentary about a reporter who covered the issue and the issue itself. One of the people it followed was not unlike Christopher Gardener – he was trying as hard as he could to give his son a good life, working more hours than one should have to, and like Gardner, this man was living paycheck to paycheck. He had to constantly make decisions that feel ridiculous in a country as wealthy as ours…it was painful watching him struggle to buy his son a pair of eyeglasses or to give him money for a gift for a birthday party. This, as our government spends so many billions in pork barrel spending, fighting a war that was based on a lie, and giving tax cuts to those who can live well without them. In the PBS story, there was no Hollywood ending as as happened in the real life story of Christopher Gardener. In the PBS documentary, the father who was working as a chauffeur was pursuing against all odds.

If we just took all the money our politicians spend on campaign ads which just bash their opponents rather than actually giving the public any good information, maybe people wouldn’t have to stand in soup kitchen lines or homeless shelter lines or wait for relief from Katrina…Like so many of us “bleeding heart Liberals”, my heart breaks on a regular basis. I see poverty, illness, oppression, war, I feel. I feel grateful for what I have, I feel pain for what others are going through. I feel anger that the world allows such things to happen to our fellow humans. Before even imagining “What if it was me?” I care so deeply because it’s someone. I haven’t “played” their roles, but somehow I’m programmed to feel their pain from what I see.

For those who say “So what?”, “Too bad” or “I have problems too”, I beg you to look at the world with an open mind and heart – and accept the connection between our own lack of greatness (in the past) and the present. It is because so many in our great country embraced slavery, segregation, and unequal education, and so many other forms of discrimination that such a larger percentage of minorities (versus Whites) are living in poverty for example – and that poverty so often breeds more poverty and a path to “Unhappyness”. Unless you’re one of those racists/race supremacists who subscribe to such ideas as the bell curve and actually think those of other races are not as smart and that is why their situation is different (in which case you’re really not that far from Hitler), then face the truth, face history and cut people who need help a little slack — Because it is our lack of greatness that has made this playing field so unequal in the first place.

One sees a movie like The Pursuit of Happyness – it’s a beautiful film by the way – and one can imagine why such telling of the truth might make people more anti-American (How is it possible in the “greatest country in the world” that such things happen?), but you also see why America is seen as the place for possibility – because anything is possible…and I’m so grateful for Hollywood helping tell the truth (when so much of the media is about the hype and the false drama), and for helping us feel…because it is from that feeling, that we too shall overcome, and that we too can be great.

For those who do care, I urge you to:
*be a mentor and friend to a youth in need
*help just one family in their pursuit of happiness
*call/email your congressperson and senators insisting on a liveable federal minimum wage
*remember to imagine