The Family Man

.. is a 2000 movie starring Nick Cage and Tea Leoni. It is perhaps my favorite Nick Cage film and has a great lesson for us all during this stressful time (if you're going to begin exam prep as I am) or are just going to inevitably be caught up in the blatant commercialization of Christmas.

And while I do concede that this is very cliche, the message is one of my favorites (also one I miss a lot of the time).

Happiness, in its many forms (I know.. I've hashed on this a lot recently), does not come from wealth or from material possessions. True bliss comes in not forgetting the ones you love.

Furthermore, don't make choices with your brain, make them with your heart.

In the movie, Cage gets on a plane to London and as a result gets everything he thought he wanted. The big apartment, the Lambo, a ridiculous paycheck. He thinks all these things are making him happy. But in the tradition of George Bailey, he failed to realize what was truly important.

I too can't say I do so much better. How often do I let my future plans get tied down by financial considerations? I have to really look at myself in the mirror some mornings and ask myself am I doing engineering for myself or am I doing this because I know it pays. True.. you may say this isn't on a George Bailey level, and at my level nothing is set in stone yet.

But as we age in life, as 15 turns to 17 then 19, somehow 20. These cruel decisions of the 'real world' are coming, and with a vengeance. Already many people, even younger than I have chosen a life in service to our country, have dealt with unbearable loss or feel the crunch of the recession.

How do I know I haven't already made some bad choices? How am I supposed to know if I should have taken words back?

...

I don't..

And that reality is the reality we all must face. Its not the dreams we have for ourselves it is the decisions we make. Those are the things that define our existence.

I just hope that in my case it doesn't take a Clarence or Don Cheadle to make me realize I've made an imprudent choice.

Now.. sleep.. Those choices, they can wait till the morning..