Have you seen the movie, The Commitments? It’s based in Ireland where a bunch of teenagers make a band which turns out to be ‘unsuccessful’, as in, they didn’t strike national fame.
I think the most beautiful part of the script is where the wise trumpet player, Joey, consoles the broken-down manager, Jimmy:
Joey: Look, I know you’re hurtin’ now, but in time you’ll realize what you’ve achieved.
Jimmy Rabbitte: I’ve achieved nothing!
Joey: You’re missin’ the point. The success of the band was irrelevant – you raised their expectations of life, you lifted their horizons. Sure we could have been famous and made albums and stuff, but that would have been predictable. This way it’s poetry.
A similar point is reached in the movie, Little Miss Sunshine.
This is the scene where Dwayne and Frank are talking about a famous writer. They ponder the writer’s inspiration and why he became so successful. They realise most of his material was derived from his worst experiences, and that these bad memories should be treasured.
I wrote a post about this scene HERE.
Frank: …he gets down to the end of his life, and he looks back and decides that all those years he suffered, those were the best years of his life, ’cause they made him who he was. All those years he was happy? You know, total waste. Didn’t learn a thing.
I don’t know. It just got me to thinking that when bad things happen, they usually make far more interesting stories and more inspiring art.
Give it a go! Go fail at life and write something inspiring = 2014 resolution
*Jodie’s wisdom of 2014*
