Could you really blame Carson Phillips for dreaming?
When I say this movie has woken something up in me, I do not lie. This movie has changed something in me, and I have honestly never felt more aware.
Now, before I begin on what I have learned, I'll be giving you quick background information of the movie/book. The movie/book is about a guy named Carson Phillips who is a sarcastic guy that everyone hates since he already sees reality for what it really is-harsh. But, he won't let that fact stop him and continues to try and achieve his lifelong dream of being an editor for this big newspaper and to receive a Nobel Prize someday. His parents are divorced with his dad leaving them and starting a new family, etc., and he lives a relatively unhappy life until his final moments before he gets struck by lightning in the school parking lot, hence the title.
Surprisingly, the movie was very humorous, even at the death scene, which, by the way, was NOT a spoiler, on my account, seeing that it happened at the very beginning of the movie, and I haven't even given away the plot, either.
Anyways, the movie has taught me two lessons-stop waiting for something to happen to you and seize the day yourself, and, two, realize how good something is before you lost it.
Let's start with the first reason.
Carson, in the movie, has come from a relatively bad life. He has all these amazing ambitions that you know he can achieve and he knows he can achieve, but the people around him don't he can achieve. They try and bring him down, but it doesn't work. However, due to his wanting for others to finally appreciate him (which they do, at the end. Well at least some of them.), he doesn't take chances. He wants these other people to notice him without him having to do the work himself, which now that I think about it, he did. But he did take any chances. In the movie, he wants to go to this amazing college, but when he isn't accepted, he just doesn't know what to do. He wants to leave, and he put all of his effort into this one, giant thing that just didn't work out. He probably could have gotten into another university, however, since he didn't try to, he wasn't able to leave and was stuck there for as long as he lived.
Now onto the second reason.
I may have mentioned this before, but Carson was hated by a lot of people. However, when he died, people finally began noticing him and appreciating him for what he really was. But, it wasn't like Carson suddenly became a new person everyone could like. No, it were the people who were suddenly realizing how good Carson was now that they lost him. If they just appreciated him more and weren't biased and close-minded about his dreams, everything would have turned out better for everyone. Sadly, everyone, included his own mother and father, were very biased and opinionated believing that life wasn't fair or was a provided fairy tale for them, that everything was going to turn out okay, always, and life was just a picket fence dream that anyone could achieve. Carson saw through that, knew that life wasn't fair and you had to work very hard to achieve the picket fence fairy tale as reality, which is why people hated him then un-hated him once he was gone and got that idea through their stubborn minds.
So I suppose there is a third lesson, too: Don't be biased. Treat people with respect, respect their decisions even if you don't like them/it, and everything will turn out better for everyone, or most people, at least.
