Pursuing Dreams

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I recently watched two films that couldn't be more opposite in their message yet both, so true. It made me realize that truth is often ostensibly a paradox, but deeply united.

One was an Iranian film by Majid Majidi and the other was an American film, called the Pursuit of Happyness (yes the 'y' is deliberate). In the Pursuit of Happyness, the main character, Will Smith, is struggling to make ends meet. His wife leaves him and he runs around as a salesman, trying to sell medical equipment in various clinics. He has a son, whom he loves above all else and for whom he wishes a better life.

On his way to a clinic one day, Will Smith passes by a huge investment company. The people who are emerging from the building look so happy and fulfilled. He stands and looks at them and wishes he were just like them. He decides to approach one of the men in suits and asks them what company this is. The man tells him it's an investment company and they are looking for people to join their internship program. If they work hard, one of them will get a job and a good salary. Will Smith makes up his mind that he will do everything to try and get into the internship program. He overcomes huge obstacles, juggling two jobs and a child, working day and night, sleeping in homeless shelters or in the subway station with his son, only to pursue the dream of a better life. Some of the scenes are so heart-wrenching it's unbearable. Now, he has the choice all along to settle for a job in a supermarket or be a security guard or find an immediate solution to his economic nightmare. However, he has decided to reach for the stars and gives up his last bit of sanity in pursuit of that one big dream. At the end of the film, which is like a roller-coaster of emotions, he gets the job. This film is based on a true story. The man this film was based on went on to being one of the wealthiest investment bankers in the world of finance. Today he helps people who were once in a similar situation to him.

The second film is about a blind man, played by Parviz Parastouie. Parastouie's character is a professor at a school for blind children and he is generally happy. He loves his wife and he has a little daughter who is the light of his life. However, he prays to God every day, asking why he was robbed of his eye-sight at a young age, why he can't see the beauty that is his life. 'Have you left me?' he asks God. One day, he feels a sharp pain in his eyes and is taken to hospital, where he finds out that he has a tumor. His frustration with life and with God grows. He is told he must fly to France for an operation, as they have the necessary equipment there. Parastouie's character flies to France. Once there, however, the operation does not only remove the tumor, it gives him his eyesight back! He is flabbergasted at the thought of seeing again. He jumps up and down, taking off his bandages. Once he opens his eyes, he takes a look in the mirror to see himself.

Yet when he sees himself, he's shocked, disappointed. The man staring back at him is an old, ugly man. This is not how he saw himself. When he flies back to Iran, he can't find his wife at the airport, as he has never seen her. He finally finds her, only to be disappointed by her looks too. In fact, his whole life, his back yard, his house, everything he had always made out to be perfect and beautiful, seems, all of a sudden uninteresting, mediocre. His anger takes over as once again, he prays to God, almost begging to take back what he had so wished for.

Now the latter movie says a lot about inner and outer values. However it is also about being happy with God's will. Knowing that God knows best what is good for us. It is about being careful what you wish for. The first film was about trying everything, giving up everything to reach for what it is you are looking for. Two very different paradigms. Both are great films and, in my opinion, express truths, which are two sides of one coin. But the question is: when do we know where our will ends and God's starts? How do we know when to cease persisting and when to keep pressing forward? What prices are we paying for that which we want? Is what we want that which God wants for us? Do we really know what is best for us? I think that is a question we all need to ask ourselves every day. Because even if we become successful at what we are setting out to do, how do we know that there wasn't something more meaningful out there that God had wanted to use us for? How do we know that fame and money will help us serve better than running a rural school somewhere in the boondocks of India? Those are the questions I ask myself every day.

As my grandma always says, 'Ask God for what is the best for you and try your best at everything that you do. Reach for the stars that you see, but be willing to recognize the hidden star when it comes your way!