It Could Happen to You
My Philosophical Musings of the Day:
I was just watching this movie with my roomies… It’s a feel-good chick flick about some dude, played by Nicholas Cage, who wins a $4 Million lottery and decides to split it with his kind-hearted waitress, played by Bridget Fonda. (Forgive me if my synopsis is semi-inaccurate… I was cleaning the house while watching.) Throughout the movie, these two characters are both incredibly giving and nice to everyone. Of course, they are eventually screwed over by Cage’s bitchy wife (how did he end up with her anyway?!?) who divorces him and wins all of the $4 Million in divorce court. In the absolutely ridiculous and impossible ending, they end up giving soup to an undercover NY Post reporter disguised as a homeless man who writes an article asking people to mail them money. And they get all these letters with a total of like $600,000 in them. And then they lived happily ever after.
If this was real life, they would just be stuck with no money. And yes, they’d have each other and they’d be happy- blah, blah, blah. But that made me think of all the times people ask “Why don’t good things happen to good people?” My answer is: Because nice people are too humble to stand up and ask for the recognition that is rightfully theirs. No reporter is going to disguise himself as a hobo and ask you for soup, so that he can tell the world how thoughtful you are. Be overt! Get some press! Do something for yourself sometimes! Or don’t complain that you don’t get any recognition for being nice.
This reminds me of something that reknowned entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz did during his speech at my E3 Expo. He took out $100 and asked if any of us wanted it. We all raised our hands. He said “No, really. Do you want it?” So we started shouting “Yes!” He said, “Seriously. Who wants this?” And this went on until some guy stood up, walked to the front of the room, and took the money from Mike’s hands. Believe it or not, this guy got to keep the $100.
So, basically, the moral of my ramblings is that I don’t want to hear anyone complain that nothing good ever happens to them when all they do is sit around and wait for secret hobo reporters. Because that will only happen in the movies. And sometimes in Extreme Home Makeover. I love that show. Okay, I’m done.
