The Pursuit of Happyness: Life is Meaningless, but Worth Living

In "The Pursuit of Happyness" there is a joke about God that goes like this: A devout drowning man hopes that God will save him. A boat passes by, but he refuses to be rescued, saying that God will come to save him. The second boat passes by, and he still refuses to be saved for the same reason. Eventually, the drowning man dies. In heaven, he questions God, saying, "Almighty Lord, why didn't you come to save me?" God replies, "I sent two boats to save you." As Ernest Hemingway said in the preface of "The Sun Also Rises," most people in this world are lost. We seek solace by imagining the possibility of a benevolent God residing in heaven. By the end of the movie, tears welled up in my eyes.

In the early 1980s in America, five years after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, society gradually started to emerge from the shadow of the war's despair. The main character, an African American individual dealing with a broken marriage and limited education, vividly illustrates some harsh realities of modern American society. Emerson once remarked that in the United States of America, neither the spirit nor wealth is ever truly equal. Yet, if you look around, everyone is smiling, appearing incredibly content.

There are as many American dreams as there are Americans. Jefferson mentioned "happiness" thirteen times in the Declaration of Independence. At that moment, the great American founding father believed it was God guiding his dreams, so they picked up their weapons and stopped singing "God Save the Queen". Two hundred years have passed, and Jefferson has become the face on American banknotes, yet happiness is still not circulated. The government and philanthropists offer people milk, food, and temporary housing, but they still cannot provide the illusion of happiness.

Life is bitter, tears are salty. Selling those white "time machines" is not enough to sustain a good life, but enough to catch the attention of hippie girls and mentally ill patients. Globalization shrinks people, while movies magnify them. Antonioni's words summed up the charm of film art. We may have lost our focus, but our appetite for money and material possessions remains unyielding.

In Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," it is expressed that life frequently challenges us, forcing us to witness the distortion and deformation of life under various pressures countless times. Thus, we observe fathers who are typically courteous and cannot abide graffiti with the word "fuck" on kindergarten walls being compelled by life to act like rabid animals: refusing to pay taxi fares, quarrelling with friends over fourteen dollars, and rudely cutting in line. Prolonged struggles at the society's bottom inadvertently neuter virtues, driven by an instinct for survival.

We find ourselves envying others' refined lives, even as our own existence remains turbulent. Happiness gently knocks on the door, while misfortune and disaster forcefully kick it open. Hence, we frequently express a longing for love and happiness, while disasters and misfortunes persistently ensnare us like relentless troublemakers on the roadside. They don't casually pass us by; they entwine us. For those vulnerable, falling victim becomes a pattern. During tranquil times, we lose the knack for recognizing the looming disasters and crises. We remain indifferent, convinced that we won't be as unfortunate as that father.

Living is truly a difficult thing, but there's always a reason for us to persist. However, "life is meaningless, but worth living, provided you recognize it's meaningless," this is a quote from Camus, full of our provocation towards the loose fate arranged by God. Nietzsche arrogantly said that God is dead, while I gently say that God has merely left heaven. He wants to make way for a concrete kind of happiness and ideal in our hearts.

Much like Will Smith's character in the movie, repeatedly assuring his children and wife: we will definitely be okay, we will definitely be able to get better. While playing basketball, he also says, "Child, you must protect your dreams." In that moment, I realize that a contented family and joyful children are his genuine convictions—stripped of any affected artistic facade, it's simply a father's love illuminated by the gentle warmth of winter sunshine.

For each person, God is different. God is a girl, God is a gun. Sometimes, they both carry a certain redemption in their real significance. When everything in life starts to abandon you, when you begin to be disgusted by that GOD who always uses things like gospel and original sin to evade and shirk responsibility, fortunately, we, the strong ones, will always find a God, sitting in heaven.