I watch movies all the time. Sometimes I at the end of the movie I think, “That was a waste of 2 hours of my life.” Sometimes I say, “It was a cute movie, but not life changing or really that meaningful.” Then there are those movies that I walk away from saying, “I am so glad I watched that, I feel inspired,” or something along those lines.
I watched the movie, Craigslist Joe, this morning. I had seen it as an option on Netflix many times, but today decided to actually push play. I am all the better for doing so. If you have ever doubted humanity, looked at people in general in a negative light, or simply been so let down by people that your faith in them is dwindling…then you need to watch this movie. To summarize, it is about a guy who spends a month depending on Craigslist and the Craigslist community to be the means of his survival. He will barter his time and services for food/shelter, and travel needs. Ultimately, the root of the story is that people are trustworthy and inately good at their core. We, as a humanity, do care about people and will and do help others. We are not as selfish and competitive as we sometimes think we are as a human race.
What I took away from this movie is that people are good. That when given an opportunity, more times than not, people will rise to the occassion and do what is right. I think it was beautiful the connections Joe made throughout his journey, that people as well as he himself could show compassion and love. I recommend watching this movie, if for nothing else than to be reminded of the above stated virtures of people.
There was a song in the movie, wasn’t sure the title/artist, but it was about how we are caught up in this rat race and that sometimes we forget and shouldn’t forget the true meaning of life. At least that was what I took from the song, to not be distracted by all the mundane things that we do each day and to remember the things in our life that matter, our experiences, our connections with people, what we do with our time here, how we act and the differences we make. There are endless things to get stressed out about, many of which are small details to the big picture of our life.
Stay positive, do your best each day, and learn from your mistakes. Be kind, help others, and believe in the goodness of the human spirit.
Happy day to you, go out now and enjoy the sunshine and try and make another person smile.
7 Days & 7 Ways to Make Life More Meaningful 