Tea with McNair

• the pursuit of drearyness

WARNING: This post contains spoilers. If you have not yet seen the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, please read on as I want to invite you NOT to see it. Here's why. (I have also added a post script to encourage you to see a film you have already decided NOT to see, and for the wrong reasons.

Only people who do not own a TV for religious reasons or live in a public bathroom do not know by now that Will Smith's new movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, is based on the true life experiences of Chris Gardner. (It is misspelled in the title, with a "y.") Gardner is a struggling salesman who gets a shot at working in a big stock brokerage, as an unpaid intern, and is hired by the firm. He goes on to become one of the most successful brokers in the history of Dean-Whitter. He then goes on to start his own brokerage firm and become a multi- multi- millionaire. Along the way he assists other struggling-with-life folks and becomes an inspiration to thousands. That story would be a great movie. Unfortunately, that is not the story they tell in this movie.
    THIS movie focuses on the struggles -- domestic and professional -- leading to his internship at Dean-Whiter. That is ALL the movie focuses on, THE STRUGGLE: bad marriage, terrible sales job (expensive product that no one wants), financial struggles-a-plenty, and slogging those now-famous San Francisco hills. We're walking, we're walking. . .
    Watching this movie is grueling, exhausting, and not Happy, ever!
    The happy part--Chris Gardner making it big (HUGE)--well, it NEVER ARRIVES, on screen. It shows up at the end of the movie as a printed paragraph about his success. Words. They make us read the happiness not experience it. This is terrible storytelling. It is a rotten movie going experience (on Christmas night!) They might as well have flashed the words:
     And they live happily ever after.
    After dragging us through far too many scenes of Will Smith (Gardner) and his little son (played by Smith's real life son) walking, and catching buses, and walking, and riding BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), and walking, and running, and (did I mention) walking (mostly up hill), Will gets the job and goes on to blah, blah, blah, make a lot of money. (Cue credit roll)
    Were the film makers afraid to tell a story that ends in grand, financial success? Maybe. But there is so much more to what the real Chris Gardner accomplished with his success. Now that would have been a great Act III to this unfinished, unsatisfying, unbearably dreary, depressing, and sad movie.
    Great movies have an emotional impact on us in more than one direction.
    In an action/adventure movie the villain spends a hefty chunky of the movie pursuing, tormenting, or torturing the hero and others. We can't wait for the good guy to catch the villain and get even. But if the bad guy is quickly arrested and dispatched into the custody of the authorities, or shot and dies instantly, without suffering, we are unsatisfied. We need the bad guy to suffer for a while to pay for all the suffering we went through with the hero.
    The Pursuit of Happyness pulls us along as the hero suffers, and is tortured by his life, his wife, and the twin obstacle courses of corporate and governmental bureaucracy. We need an emotional payoff. This movie gives us nothing in exchange for our exhaustion. Words on the screen are not enough happiness for all we've been through. It is not enough that we sort of know the ending of this raggedness-to-riches story going in. TELL ME THE WHOLE STORY and tell it well.
    The Pursuit of Happyness, the real story of Chris Gardner, is a great story. The movie fails to tell that story--the full story. See any other movie this season. (If you've already seen this movie and enjoyed it, somehow, well, you are a far better person than I.) You see, there's more to Chris Gardner's story than that he made lots of money. The story they didn't tell would have been a great film, an uplifting film, an inspiring, and transforming film. But THAT film is in another theatre. When you go the movies this holiday season, see that other movie. 

The REAL Pursuit of Happiness

After re-reading my post above, I realized I have already seen a great film this movie-going season. It, too, is the story of a man struggling to create a life for his wife and young son whom he loves dearly. It begins with the gentle and warm images of his place in a healthy, vibrant community. The men work together to provide for their families and their interaction is collegial and even playful as they pull practical jokes on one another. When they return home together, the entire community comes to welcome them. The early scenes paint a picture (it is a visually stunning film) of a graceful and humane life.
    Then, suddenly and harshly, their tranquil lives are shatter, invaded. Thus begins a relentless and grueling ordeal. It is at once difficult, fascinating, and thrilling to experience. Our "hero" is thrust into circumstances not of his choosing. He is taken to a world beyond his imaginings--and ours. But it is a real world, based on true events, and the precise research of historical experts.
    This story takes place before the discovery of North America and forms the basis for Mel Gibson's APOCALYPTO. This is a visually breath taking film and heroic human saga  THIS is the film you must see this season, on the biggest movie screen you can find. (Do your homework, drive to the big city, it's worth it.) This movie, like The Pursuit of Happyness, drags us along in a agonizing struggle for freedom and human happiness. But, unlike Will Smith's missed-adventure, Apocalyto delivers a far more satisfying, and complete, storytelling experience. And , yes, as has been reported, it is violent. But no more bloody or cruel than the story requires, and certainly far LESS violent than your average Bruce Willis romp or an afternoon with any of Martin Scorsese 's friends in Casino, Gangs of New York, et al. In fact, Apocalyto is LESS violent than the National Geographic channel's Lunch with the Lions.
    No film review, that I've read, even mentions the opening scenes that I describe above, where Gibson shows us the gentle and grace-filled lives of the Mayan people in their forest-bound villages. The great accomplishments of that civilization (that existed before the time of Christ) may also have contributed to their undoing--according to historians.
    Just as the high priest, on top of the magnificent Mayan pyramid, removes the human heart of a sacrificial victim, Apocalypto is the story a man struggling to save his heart: his family and his village. His simple striving to provide them a good life is the real story, the whole story, of one man against overwhelming odds in an elegant pursuit of happiness.

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• joy to the world

{ I'm Dreaming of a Silly Christmas }

Happy rushing - around - last - minute - buying - stupid - gifts - and - can't - find - a - place - to - park - anxiety season!  So, in all the hub and the bub I send you grins, giggles, and a gaffaw -- or two:
   
- I intend to live forever. So far so good.

- If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?

- I recently took an I.Q. test and the results were negative.

- Dyslexics of the world untie!

- Always remember that you are unique: just like everyone else.

    Find the joy, share it, spread it around. Have some egg nog (with your favorite "egg nog helper") and then make some more joy!

Happy Christmas!

McNair 
professional third grader

[ Right: Jocelyn "D'Lovely" Sluka, McNair, and Charles "D'Goofy" Jones making art at a theatre conference.] 

• comfort & joy

{ 'Tis the Season . . . }

‘Tis the season to be busy. We hear the ringing bells . . . of cash registers and the crunching of bank balances roasting on an open charge account everywhere. In my favorite Christmas carol, though, we are encouraged to rest during advent and let there be no cause for dismay--despair or discouragement. Yet this is a time when, we are told, suicide is up, and people’s problems are magnified by the push to be cheerful. “Happy Christmas” they were saying everywhere in London Town last December when I was there.
    Happy indeed. That same carol I love goes on to the tell story of God’s come among us, born in a stable in a tiny hillside town, Bethlehem. The first to get a birth announcement were sheep herders on a cold, rocky hillside, in the middle of the night.
    “Attention, please. We have an update.” The messenger of light told them. “This Just In: Good news! And this is for everyone - comfort and joy, comfort and joy. That’s right comfort and joy.” They must really have meant it to say it three times.

People don’t want to believe in God because there’s suffering in the world? It's the age-old bumper sticker excuse for disbelief: Why would a loving God allow all the starvation, disease, and death? God hates human suffering as much as we do. If God created us, the Creator hates human suffering the way any parent grieves over the pain of their children. Human history was interrupted that cold night in Bethlehem when God sneaked into town through a back door. The “son of man” (as Jesus called himself) brought an unlimited supply of comfort for all who are suffering. And joy by the life-full was to be distributed liberally and all the year ‘round. This wasn’t just Southern Comfort bracing us ‘gainst the colder months.
    God had grown weary of human war-making, disease, and starvation-causing selfishness, all born of our over--exercised free wills. If we must use the free will that Eternity installed in each of us as standard equipment then the Creator had come among us to add comfort and joy to the menu of life’s amenities. We were to use them as freely and as much as we could stand it.
    The big question now is, “How great can you stand life being.” If your life is more joy than sorrow, more comfortable than suffering, spread it around. Never underestimate the power of buying a microwave burrito for the lonely street dweller standing outside your local 7-11. Just do it. In the darkest corner only a tiny candle is needed to bring light.
    God’s great gift is to come among us and join in as Life itself. That Life comforts the sad and lonely, as Bethlehem’s star still shines into every home, on every hillside, down alley way and beneath the concrete overpass that is home to far too many. The Light and Life of Bethlehem can shine into every human heart.
    May you know the graceful love of the King of Christmas. May there be in you and all whom you meet this season, comfort and joy, comfort and joy, comfort and joy.
   
 
Don’t forget to feed the red kettle, every time you pass one.

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• instructions, book 1

{ Read All Instructions Before Beginning }

~ Don't hurry. This is not a race. 

~ Finish what you start.

~ Never analyze while you are creating. (They are opposite activities of the brain.)

~ Do what you love. (And learn to love what you do.) I don’t love everything I do, but I can connect everything I must do (that I don’t love) to how it serves and enables me to do all the stuff I love.

~ What do you do best? Do you do that most? Do you do it a lot? Do you do it at all? Everyday? Once a week? now and again? What you do best will get worse, the less you do it. When you do your best--at almost anything--it serves and inspires others to do their best stuff. Don’t be selfish--do what you do best, OFTEN.

~ Work on your dream projects. The impossible seems so far away, until we start moving toward it. I have seen so many huge, impossible dreams come closer to fruition by spending even a bit time working on them and in so do, realizing they are actually doable. Every moment I spend working on a dream project, inspires me to work on it more. That leads to its completion. The completed project inspires others and their projects inspire me. I have been inspired by every email and comment I have received from readers of this blog site.
    In the Summer of of the year '4, I spoke at a writers conference. In one of my four morning general sessions I encouraged attendees to “work on your dream project. Because,” I told them, “It’s good for your soul.”
    I defined a dream project, for writers, as a book or series of articles you’d love to write, but do not (yet) have a contract or even a letter of intent from a publisher. But you have a burning desire to be working on this project.
    A few months later, a small cushy package arrived in the mail. I was excited because I buy a lot of books online and treat each new arrival as a gift. (I enjoy buying used books, especially if the seller’s notes say “has previous owner’s notes in the margins.”) But this was not a book I had ordered, at least not one I had purchased. It was a small, 5x7-ish, hard cover book, with ragged-edged pages, and delightful and intriguing cover art. Inside was scrawled a note from it’s author, R. K. Mortenson, thanking me for the inspirational push at the writers’ conference. Upon further examination of the cover art I noticed, on the spine, in tiny type “BOOK 1.” I screamed and began dancing around the room. Immediately I thought of the tales Narnia, Harry Potter, and the remarkable Lemony Snicket books. But this was Landon Snow - And the Auctor’s Riddle! [Click on book title to enter Landon Snow's secret passage way and  click on book cover in my Book List at left, to order books. But not yet.]
    I grabbed the phone and dialed the number on the business card that author, R.K. Mortenson, had placed inside the book.
    “Hello-o-o.”
    “Is this R. K. Mortenson?”
    “Yes.” (He was a bit hesitant) “This is Randy.”
    “Randy, it’s McNair Wilson.”
    “McNair!”
    After introductory enthusiasms I congratulated Randy on the great new book and especially the series. He told me that it had been a short story in a magazine and after my talk he shared it with one of the editors at the conference and, long story short, it is now well under way to becoming a five book series. My friend, R.K. just sent me  BOOK 3 a few weeks ago, with BOOK 4 due in June of the year ‘7.
    Now I can hear you all out there howling, “McNair! I don’t have time to write a whole book, let alone a five book series. I’ve got a day job that sucks the marrow from my bones. It’s all I can do to stay awake for a full episode of House on Tuesday nights. Besides which, I’ve got laundry to do.”

    Me too. Today, in fact. (But I may just go to WalMart and buy a bag of sweat socks and put off my laundry 'till tomorrow.)
    Everybody’s busy. Your are not special in that regard. But hey, my friend Randy (R.K. Mortenson) is a husband, father, and at the time of creating Landon Snow, he was a full time chaplain in the United States Navy. (Now he is the pastor of a church in the MidWest and inventing Landon Snow’s next adventures.)
    I inspired Randy. He created Landon Snow, that inspired me. And now, we will inspire you because his publisher gave me a few copies of the books to give out--and you can have one--FREE. Read on.
    I want you to write a comment to this blog and tell us about a dream project you are currently working at, on a regular basis, or one that you began working on TODAY--after reading this blog post. Tell us what the project is, how much time you spend on it each day  (or at least, each week), and how working on it has inspired you to work on other “stuff” that you have to do (projects, your job, life’s entanglements.)   
    If you are one of the first four people to write a comment (below) about your dream project (25 - 100 words should do) I will contact you by email and send you BOOK1 or 2 of Landon Snow.   
    Get dreamin’. (Re-read instructions, above.)

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> how was your day? <

{ Exercise No.2: Between Reason & Recess }

We begin with something simple: Answer the question, "What did you do today?"
    If you're keeping score, the first "exercise" in the new Reason & Recess series was to assemble needed materials. (If you've just joined us, see my post entitled: "i know a place", listed in "recent Posts" in sidebar at right.) Exercise No. 1 was gathering your materials.
    You may now turn the page.
    Using a lead pencil, hold it in your non-dominant hand. Example: I am left-handed, so, the pencil will be in my right hand.
    You assignment: Write about what you did today (at the end of your day, or sometime tomorrow.) If you are eager to get going, right now, write now about yesterday. This will be more challenging if you choose to worry about penmanship. Focus on content not cursive shapes. It merely needs to be readable to another person.
    That's the second part of the assignment: let some one else read it when you have finished.
    If you've never tried this -- writing with your non-dominant had -- it will seem goofy and impossible at first. Keep writing. This will begin to build your fearlessness and playfulness to tackle future exercises that you may be resistant to trying.
    Think of this as the rough draft and you won't worry so much about how it looks. Remember, there are no grades for any of the Between Reason & Recess work. The only failure is NOT to try.
    There was a time, when we were kids, that our penmanship was ugly and a struggle. Even so, we kept going because we loved being able to write and wanted to get better.
    For added fun, feel free to use your glue stick to paste in any ephemera gather throughout your day -- a colorful receipt, ticket, business card of someone you meet, matchbook cover (a rare find these days), coaster, envelope with multiple stamps, etc. Maybe you will start tomorrow and be on the look out for interesting, everyday paper objects (ephemera) to collect as illustrations to your report. One of my favorite illustration techniques, when I am writing (or drawing) in a restaurant is to set my cup or glass directly on the page and create a circular stain on the page. (Tea works great, as does a good, spicy Zinfandel.)
    One more important facet to this project, do have fun. 
  Let me know how it goes. My request ia that you do it as a "comment" to this post (rather than an email to me) so the rest of the Between Reason & Recess gang can read about your reaction to this exercise. We can learn a lot from each other. And, you are welcome to email me directly whenever you like.

    McNair

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