The Pursuit of Happyness

I'm sitting here literally blown away. My heart is beating 70 mph. There's a burning in my throat from holding back tears. The story of Chris Gardner as portrayed by Will Smith is the story of the year, the story of the last 25 years.

I felt the emotion, the pain. The struggles and the impossible situations. In 1981, Chris Gardner was selling Bone Synthesis Machines. That's close to what they're called anyway. He loses two of them during the movie. These machines that are going for $250, he is selling from doctor's office to doctor's office. They are his life blood. They pay his rent and buy his groceries. The first one he loses, he gets back after chasing a hippie lady and her boyfriend down the street and onto a bus. The second one he loses after ditching a cab driver because one of the Dean Witter bosses ditches him on the fare. The cab driver chases him down and he is forced to run to the train. Getting his hand caught in the door as he boards the train, he is forced to drop the machine and leave it behind. But, he spots it one day. Some old crazy guy is carrying it around thinking it's a time machine.

Here's a part of this story that is phenomenal. He gets the machine back and it's broken. But, he's broke and he has a kid. They're sleeping in a shelter and eating in the soup kitchen. Chris Gardner fixes this highly technical piece of machinery all by himself. He gives blood at a clinic for about $24. He buys an $8 light bulb for the machine. Then, he fixes the machine that night in hardly any light at all while everyone including his son is sound asleep. He sells the machine the next day and that night, they spend the night in a hotel with television and a nice personal shower. So, what? It was just a light bulb? Anyone else would have given up and thrown the hunk of junk away.