Chris Gardner Begs the Question, What is Your Excuse?

The Pursuit of Happyness, the wildly popular movie (and based on the book with the same name) is about the rags to riches story of Chris Gardner. It begs the question, what is the excuse for failure? I have to ask it myself. I think everyone should ponder such.

In my own case, I was born and raised by parents who certainly loved me, but may have handicapped me psychologically. They never taught me how to work, they treated my like a baby long after it was appropriate, and gave me the impression that I was entitled to everything I received. Over the years I have met people with true handicaps who seemed far more capable to do so much more than me.

In our low-middle class household, first in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale, and later in Abilene, Texas, my parents (both suffered through the scarcity of the Great Depression) believed in class conflict and that every economic scenario was one in which there was a winner (those with money) and a loser (those, like us, without). My parents tried to "protect me" over the years by spoiling me, but I grew tired of such as an adult found it far more attractive to simply grow up.

I finally learned that, in the US, I'm only as limited as my imagination and that the American Dream is alive and well and can show up anywhere (even Detroit and Abilene). It was okay to say things were hard, but today I try to teach my children that life is full of challenges instead. They should see the difficulties they face like a puzzle and are not as insurmountable mountains too difficult to be crossed. Finally, I learned that most economic decisions are win-win and that I'm not competing against the mega-rich we read about or see on TV, but am part of a massive economy with plenty of room for everyone, including you and me.

These are the lessons Chris Gardner learned as well, sooner than I did in his maturation process. His mother was in and out of jail, he suffered at the hands of abusive step fathers and never knew his actual father. He actually faced homelessness while caring for a son alone; but instead of playing blame games on those who "had," he instead decided to write a new story for himself, one of success and prosperity. Chris Gardner provides an inspirational story and one that I believe virtually anyone can learn from.

On an aside, I recently wrote about the weak economic philosophy of "win-lose" so pervasive in the world today. I think you might find it an interesting read.