Happiness is a pursuit

Sometimes as elusive as mercury, happiness doesn’t always show up on the horizon as the sun does every morning. Happiness is a quest.

This was spelled out anew to me by the 2006 Will Smith starrer Pursuit of Happyness, which aired last Sunday on cable TV. Even if you are in a happy place in your life right now, keep a copy of this movie for the days when you think you are in the pits.

The movie is actually a touching dissertation on why happiness (misspelled “happyness” on a wall when five-year-old Christopher Gardner, portrayed by Will’s very own son Jaden Smith, first reads it) must be snagged. It isn’t a shiny apple that falls from the tree, ripe for the picking (though in rare instances it is, lucky us!). Happiness isn’t a right, the pursuit of happiness is.

(The US Declaration of Independence describes the pursuit of happiness as every person’s “unalienable” right, along with life and liberty.)

In the movie, Chris Gardner, who grew up fatherless, meets misfortune every step of the way in his quest for happiness. Malas. He invests in bone-density scanners, but has a hard time selling them. He is three months behind in his rent and efforts to find a steady job prove futile. His frustrated wife Linda leaves him because she has lost trust in his ability to provide for their family.

Chris insists on custody of their son Christopher and Linda agrees because she knows that’s where Chris is good at — being a father. Chris’ devotion to his son doesn’t go unreciprocated because through his darkest day — a night spent in a public toilet as their only shelter — Christopher stands by him.

Chris is accepted as an intern at Dean Witter Reynolds, then one of the largest stock brokerage firms in the US. Of 20 interns, only one will be employed after six months. Chris doesn’t get a salary and gambles his future on faith — faith in himself and on the belief that “hard work isn’t rocket science.”

Virtually penniless during this period of faith, he and his son move from their two-story home, to a motel, to a homeless shelter. A hippie steals one of his bone scanners. On what he thought was a lucky day, he sees the hippie with the stolen scanner, runs after the thief but instead gets sideswiped by a cab. Chris not only loses sight of the thief, he loses his shoe in the accident and returns to work without it.

Want to hear more? Chris is able to sell four scanners and is grateful that the money can tide them off till he gets a real job. But the taxman cometh at the same time, wiping out whatever little he had in the bank. A friend who owes him $14 refuses to pay him back. And one day, Chris just happens to be on the curb when the cab of the Big Boss of Dean Witter pulls up. Big Boss left his wallet and needs $5 to pay the cab and borrows money from Chris. Chris probably has $7 in his wallet but what can he do? He pays for the cab.

On the day he was supposed to meet his biggest potential investor, his immediate boss asks him to park his (the boss’) car on a crowded street and Chris misses several parking slots — and his appointment with Mr. Big Time. Malas talaga.

But Chris doesn’t wait for opportunity to knock on his door again. He chases it like it were a desirable woman. He knows that Mr. Big Time has a son and likes watching ballgames, and he shows up in his home with Christopher to apologize for missing his appointment. Mr. Big Time warms up to the presence of the little boy. He invites Chris and Christopher to join him and his 12-year-old son to watch a ballgame, from a private box. Chris is not able to convince Mr. Big Time to transfer his funds to Dean Witter, but he makes a lot of connections during the ballgame.

One day, Chris is also able to sell his last bone-scanner and he treats his son to a night in a decent hotel. He gives his son the bed and sleeps on the armchair. When they wake up in the morning, they are snuggled together in the armchair. The bed is empty.

When he tells his son he must work hard so he (Christopher) doesn’t get to spend the rest of his life sharing a room with his father, Christopher answers, “I don’t mind sharing a room with you.” He even tells his father he wouldn’t mind sharing a cave (which is how Chris described the public toilet where they once spent the night) with him again.

Chris and Christopher never get to share a cave again.

Because despite all the hardships he encounters, Chris catches up with happiness. On the day he is told that of the 20 interns, he gets the job (and a salary), he simply walks out of the office and amid the throng walking down the street, he weeps. With happiness.

***

Chris Gardner is now the owner and CEO of Gardner Rich LLC with offices in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. According to his website, Chris is also an avid motivational and aspirational speaker and a “passionate philanthropist.” He founded the brokerage firm Gardner Rich in Chicago from his home with just $10,000.

The Pursuit of Happyness was released by Columbia Pictures in December 2006. The movie was based on Chris’ autobiography, The Pursuit of Happyness, which eventually became a New York Times and Washington Post No. 1 bestseller. For portraying Chris, Will Smith received Academy Award, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations.

He has a second New York Times bestselling book, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, published in May 2009.

Chris, who now has two children and resides in Chicago and New York, is both paying back and paying it forward. He is involved with homelessness initiatives assisting families to stay intact, and assisting homeless men and women who are employed but still cannot get by.

He is still very committed to Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco, where he and his son sought shelter in the early 1980s. He has helped fund a project that creates low-income housing and opportunities for employment for the underprivileged.

Chris Gardner’s aim, through his speaking engagements and media projects, is “to help others achieve their full potential.”

He pursued happiness because he knew every time he looked at his son’s trusting eyes, that it was well worth the dash.

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