I was reading "The Disaster Artist" a few months back, and I encountered a story very striking, the kind of sentimental sequence that always stops me in my tracks. If it were a necessary task, it would be easy to write a movie script that would move me. I have this Japanese idea of honor and sincerity that I can't quite shake off, no matter how cynical I get as I age.
The story goes like this. Greg Sestero, our protagonist, says he's wanted to be an actor all of his life. He sent out mail to John Hughe's production company as a 12 year old budding screenwriter, hoping that the man would accept his screenplay, and he anxiously waits for his mail.
He finally gets a reply,from John Hughes, to his mother's surprise.
The note simply said for him to believe in himself.
Of the event, Sestero writes:
“Writing a random little boy a note of encouragement was merely a small, dashed-off kindness on Hughes’s part, but at the time it meant a lot to me. It still does. In the intervening years, I’ve learned that many people can afford to be that kind, but of those who can, most don’t.
After reading Hughes’s letter, I knew I’d found my calling.”
Greg Sestero is still making movies today, and he is responsible for being a significant part of why "The Room" made it to the big screen. "The Room" is no masterpiece, not in the conventional sense anyways, but I've watched the movie 6 times and I adore it.
The moral of the story is, if there is one, that being kind when no one is watching is an attribute only people of the highest quality have. It is as close to altruism as we can get as human beings, and it is not always something that is easy to do.
Take World War 2, when many Germans hid Jews in their basement, knowing fully that their lives were at stake in doing so.
It is events like these, historically significant or otherwise, that remind us that our inconvenience is always worth the price of nurturing someone who is in need of it.
John Steinbeck, in a moment of extreme romanticism, says "nothing good gets away", which is a beautiful sentiment, but one I absolutely disagree with. Good things get away all the time. Which is why it is important to latch on to them, and be there to ensure that they persevere.
After all, what is kindness without it's vehicle?
