Life Lessons from a Thirty Year Old Movie

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

No, that isn’t something that I came up with, I am not that smart. Nor is it something that the person who said it came up with. It was written by director John Hughes for the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off that came out in 1986. It was an instant hit. I loved it back then also and I still do it. I showed it to my kids a while back and they also loved it. Once in a while, Hollywood does come out with something timeless that can be relevant years after its release, but unfortunately, not very often.

The moral of the story, well, there are actually several as cited in these excellent blog posts, https://progressiveself.wordpress.com/2013/12/29/4-fantastic-life-lessons-from-ferris-buellers-day-off/ and http://elitedaily.com/life/6-valuable-life-lessons-we-can-learn-from-ferris-bueller/.

At the time, I really didn’t understand what Mr. Hughes was trying to tell us at the time. I only saw a funny, cool and hip movie that most of my fellow class mates and generation took at face value. I can’t speak for others really, just myself and I can safely say that at the time, I totally missed Mr. Hughes’ whole point of the movie. He was giving us very valuable information through the medium of film. A rare occurrence these days from Hollywood.

These things he was was trying to get through our thick heads and the way he chose to do so was, and still is, pure genius. But most of us didn’t get it. He didn’t fail in his efforts, we failed. We failed to see beyond the surface, as we often do. Even today, after 48 years of life, I fail. I think that is what our society has become. A society of surface dwellers. We didn’t come to this by accident. Living on the surface is easy, and easy is what we strive for, most of us. That is one of our biggest problems and what is going to destroy us if we let it.

The main point that I believe Mr. Hughes was trying to get through to us is that we need to take charge of our own lives and be responsible for it and to own it. We only have one. We can’t keep living life on the surface.

As Ferris (Hughes) says in the movie,

“I am not going to sit on my ass as the events that affect me unfold to determine the course of my life. I’m going to take a stand. I’m going to defend it. Right or wrong, I am going to defend it.”

I wish I could have learned these lessons thirty years ago. But I didn’t. I don’t think it is too late for me or my kids. And I don’t think it is too late for me either.