Good Will Hunting

This was a Warner Brothers production in the late 1990s starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Robin Williams who won an Oscar for his supporting role. It was also remarkable that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck won the Special Achievement in Filmmaking as well as the Oscar for best screenplay. This movie was made about 8 years ago and Matt Damon was so young that I did not know who he was.

The movie is about Will Hunting who was so brilliant that he could solve problems that Nobel Prize winners in mathematics could not, that he could cite all the great literary works at the snap of his fingers and he literary had a professor at MIT on his knees when he burnt a mathematical solution in retaliation for what he thought the professor was doing to him.

Yet he never went to school and chose to live his life as a janitor in MIT, goes for drinks with his working-class buddies never wanting to step beyond an existence where he knew that he would be safe from redicule and harm. When he got into trouble with the law and was facing a jail sentence, the MIT professor managed to help him stay away from jail by promising the judge that he would be responsible for Will. Will, in turn would have to help the professor in his academic pursuits because Will was the mathematical genius.

In addition, he would have to undergo therapy for a set period of time till he became 21 years of age so that his anger could be managed for him to stay out of trouble. This was when he met Sean McGuire, his therapist and counsellor who was the professor's friend. Will refused to be helped at first because he wanted no one to know of his past. Sean McGuire shared a similar background with Will in that he was an abused child and in the process of counselling Will, both were able to confront the demons or their respective past and to come to terms with their emotions.

Will Hunting eventually realised what was was stopping him from venturing beyond the walls of his current life in the course of the therapy and Sean McGuire realised that, like Will, he was undermining his own potentials and capabilities because of a shadowed past. A love story was in there as well when Will met a medical student at Harvard who fell in love with him. Again he could not bring himself to love her because he was afraid of entering her world where he feared he would not be able to fit in.

I thought hard about this movie that I watched on a VCD with my son yesterday. What was the message in the movie? Was there one? I detected a few, the main one being that if we do not know what we want in life, we will be stuck in time in one place for the rest of our lives. To know what we want, we have to know what we are good at and develop that strength by keeping an eye open for opportunities that come our way. If they don't come, we have to go and find them.

Will Hunting was prepared to live out the rest of his life doing menial jobs because he did not want his genius to be known as he was abused by his father as a child resulting in a fear and distrust in people. Thus he covered up his brilliance because he did not want to be in contact with people outside the safety provided by his buddies and being in a place in which no one could rule his life and he did not have to mingle with others whom he feared will hurt or abandon him.

But when he, through the help of Sean McGuire, learned to let go of his fears that were entrenched deep in his life because of his abused childhood, he began to see the opportunities around him and once he sees them, he was able to set his goals and exercise his options i.e. he finally knew what he wanted in life. He finally realised that he had abilitities that he should tap on and not hide.

In real life, we are like Will Hunting. We may not have extreme brilliance but we do have enough worth in us to start with. Some of us are inclined towards the sciences, some the arts and some sports. In any one of these three, we need to set ourselves up for success in whichever field that we choose to earn a living in. It's like national service. Every one has to pass basic military training before being channeled into the various fields. Every one has the capability to pass this basic training stage. If you fail, it's really because of a physical handicap or mental weakness.

Once you get over this hurdle of school, you will see more opportunities before you. If you don't get over this hurdle as Will Hunting did, you would be stuck as he would have been, as a janitor for the rest of his life. Getting through school and graduating with the 'A' levels can be considered as the basics. Everyone has a reasonable potential to do well enough to enter a polytechnic or the university.

We have fears and hang ups that could prevent us from doing well in our studies just as Will Hunting was unable to get himself through a formal education because he fears rejection and hurt. But once he overcame that fear, he was able to soar.

Many teenagers today do not know what they want to do with their lives. They are like Will Hunting. These teenagers have so many opportunities before their eyes but they do not see them because their vision of their future is clouded by the distractions of the day that are mostly about having fun now or never, instant gratification, shooting aliens on the screen, boy-girl relationships without bothering to think about responsibilities because parents are always there to bail them out.

The Will Huntings of this generation are not held back by their past but by their parents who pamper them too much so that there is no motivation to venture out of their current existence where "I don't know", "Anything", "Whatever" are the key words in their vocabulary.

But I am optimistic that there is still a chance that these teens will one day find the demons that are holding them back, slaughter them and venture out to a new world where they are not shackled by all the things and ideas that make them feel that life is good as it is and should carry on for as long as they find it unnecessary to think about the future.

Will Hunting was set free by an extraordinary counsellor. Parents are no match but parents do try and this movie gives a glimmer of hope to parents - that one day, somehow, a switch will flick on magically to light up the possibilities for the teenager and wake him up from his slumber.

What reading is about

My son once asked me what goes on in my head when I read. Is it like a movie being played? Do I imagine the scenes as I read? Yes! In the days when I was growing up, there were no pcs, no internet, no online games, no msn, DVDs, VCDs, Ipods, MP3s etc but I had just as exciting a time as kids now because I had books and I had a LIFE magazine subscription and a wonderful full-coloured ecyclopedia that is now out of print and that I still treasure - The Caxton Encyclopedia where I learned about art from all the beautiful photos of the paintings of the masters through the ages.

Let me explain what reading does for me using excerpts from the novel by the Booker Prize 2006 winner "The Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Desai:

"...Nepali ladies with golden rings dangling and Tibetan women with braids and prayer beads, between those who had walked from faraway villages to sell muddy mushrooms covered with brackish leaves or greenery, already half cooked in the sun. Powders, oils and ganglions of roots were proffered by Lepchia medicine men; other stalls offered yak hair, untidy and rough as the hair of demons, and sacks of miniature dried shrimp with oversized whiskers; there were smuggled foreign goods from Nepal, perfumes, jean jackets, electronics; there were kukri sickles, sheets of plastic rainproofing and false teeth."

Why, I could paint this scene just based on this description. And, if you want sound to go with this market scene, here it is:

"The muffled thunder of prayer rumbled down the mountain as the mules and horses stepped pom-pommed out of the fog, bells singing, prayer flags flying from the saddles."

If you want smell, here it is:
"...Tibetan muleteers in furry boots, earrings swinging and the earthy smell of men and beasts had run a hot current against that exquisite scent of pine that people like Lola and Noni came from Calcutta to sample."

If you want to experience the emotions of the character:
"He went to Lark's store for Tosh's tea, egg noodles and Milkmaid condensed milk. He told the doctor, who had come in to collect the vaccines that she stored in the Lark's fridge, "My son has a new job in the USA." Her son was there as well. He shared this with a doctor! The most distinguished personage in town."

How could we find time to be bored when there was so much living to do just through reading alone.

The Blue Light - Grimm Brothers

Once upon a time, there was a soldier who outwitted a witch and gained possession of a blue light that he retrieved from the bottom of a well for her. He discovered that the blue light had the power to summon forth a dwarf when he used it to light his pipe. The dwarf was like the genie in the bottle who could grant his master's every wish. The soldier asked to be taken out of the deep well and have the witch take his place there because she had left him there to die when he refused to give her the blue light.(This is revenge)

The wish was granted of course. He then went to the witches house and took as much of the valuables as he could carry. (Taking what is not yours is stealing). Next he checked himself into the finest inn and when he was done with ordering new clothes (This is greed) he lit his pipe with the blue light and hey presto, the dwarf dutifully appeared. The soldier was upset with the king for not rewarding him for his years of loyal service. (Soldiers serve the country not for rewards, only mercenaries ask for rewards)

With his new-found power, he wanted to show the king that he was now the master. He asked the dwarf to bring the king's daughter to him every night to be his servant and to take her back to the palace every morning.(This is abuse of power) The princess reported to her father that she had been having strange dreams of being carried away to a place to work as a servant for a soldier every night. The King on hearing this devised some schemes to check if his precious daughter was dreaming or if what she said was true.

The dwarf thwarted the efforts of the king to find out the truth the first time. The second time, he warned the soldier that if he was found out and caught by the king, he would not be able to save the soldier a second time.

The soldier was eventually caught by the King and imprisoned. There the smart fellow asked to be granted the wish to smoke his pipe before being put to death. When he lit the pipe with the bue light, the dwarf appeared. Whereupon the soldier commanded that the King be killed. The dwarf obeyed (This must be forgetfulness for the dwarf did say that the soldier could not be saved a second time)

The King begged for mercy to which the soldier asked what he would be willing to exchange for his life. The desperate King said he could have anything he wished for. Guess what the soldier wanted?

His wish was to marry the princess and to let him succeed the throne. The King agreed and the soldier married the princess and lived happily as a rich prince. (I wonder if the princess was happy)

What is the moral of the story? I think there are no morals in this story.

The 3 Samurai Cats (in a nutshell) by Eric A. Kimmel.

In a nutshell, here is the story:

There was a daimyo (lord of the castle) who was frustrated by a huge, mean rat that ravaged and terrorised his household. He went to a docho (monk) for help. The monk sent a samurai to deal with the rat. The rat beat the samurai to pulp.

The monk then sent his top samurai. Armoured and skillful the samurai fought with the rat. He was beaten to mush. The then told the daimyo that the Neko Roshi (Zen master) would have to deal with the rat. The Zen master turned out to be a decrepit cat dressed in rags and walked with a limp. He never lifted a finger to fight with the rat letting it over run the castle even more boldly. The rat literally became the boss of the castle to the exasperation of the daimyo. It went on a rampage and all the while the Zen master slept, lazed around and let the rat do what it wanted.

During a particular festival (Obon festival) where rice balls were made in celebration, the rat stole rice from everyone and made his own rice ball. He made a gigantic rice ball bigger than himself and then he tripped and fell into the rice ball and got stuck. He cried for help. The Zen master limped over. He told the Rat that he would help him provided that he promised to leave the castle after that. The rat said no, whereupon the Zen master extended a single claw in the Rat's face. The rat had no choice. The daimyo was free from the rat at last. He asked the Docho (monk) how was it that two strong and skilled samurais did not succeed to get rid of the rat but a useless-looking aged cat managed to do so.

The docho replied that in Zen teaching you do not use force on the enemy. You let him defeat himself. The lesson is to "draw strength from stillness. Learn to act without acting."

This is of the most entertaining childen's story book that I have come across in a long, long time. The illustrations were fantastic. They were beautifully done and the comic element showed up in subtle ways making me smile as I read.

I have travelled miles in life to arrive at this threshold where I have to try to cross over without tripping and falling flat on my face. It will take a lot of mastery to be able to "act without acting". Is this deceit? To act like you do not care when in fact you do?

With people who loves you, that would be deceit because in such relationships, trust and truthfulness should prevail. With enemies and people you do not care for, this principle could be applied as a strategy to defeat them.

This story tells us only how we should act in one type of situation. It is useful to have this knowledge and to apply it when necessary. But life is really very complicated. We do not have only one enemy and some of them know what you are trying to do and defeat you before they fall into your trap.

We also have people whom we love and care for that we do not seek to destroy but whom we do not know how to cherish. What about the saying "Love thy enemy?" Is it possible to do that? Why have enemies? It is not our choice most of the time. Life just unfolds and we just have to face what falls our way be they good or bad and learn not to act without thinking.