My Journey with Emmanuel

I have been friend with Emmanuel for years now. I call him the Movie Guru. He lives and breathes by movies. He even has a blog called “Movies that Motivate/The Adventures of Motivatorman”.

I have a weekly talk with Emmanuel, and very often we share about what we learned through movies. This guy can watch at least ten movies a week. It's hard to keep up with him.

One movie caught my attention last week. It is called “The Change-Up” with Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman.

One drunken night, two friends admit that they wish they had the other's life. Mitch (Reynolds) thinks Dave has it all: a beautiful, loving family and a high-paying job at a prestigious law firm. But Dave (Bateman) thinks Mitch's stress-free life without obligation or consequence is the real dream come true. The next morning they wake up, hungover, in each other's bodies, and proceed to freak out! With time not on their side, Mitch and Dave comically struggle to avoid completely destroying each other's lives before they can find a way to get their old ones back.

It is a hilarious comedy, but the movie made me think about a thing or two. So often we wish we could have other people lives (I wish I had the life of Bill Gates...), and we tend to forget that there are other people who wish they had the life that we have. How about being thankful of what we have? That would be a great idea, I think

There is a scene in the movie when Dave is about to be promoted as a partner of the Law firm and they were showing a slide show of his professional career and his family life. Mitch who was in Dave's body kept saying “I don't deserve this”. He was feeling so bad because he knew he had nothing to do with Dave's success. The lesson I learned from the scene is that, yes I want to have Bill Gate's life, but I am willing to pay the price he paid to get there? Success has a price, and many of us are not ready to pay it.

I also learned that, being in other people's shoes can help us understand what they are going through, therefore avoid judging them. We really don't know why people do what they do. Maybe getting their perspective on things can help us be better friends and have compassion. That would make the world a better place to be.

Moral of the story? Do you want to be inspired by movies? Have a weekly talk with Emmanuel and you will wish to have the life that I have lol

Always a pleasure

Patrick

The Journeyman