Good Will Hunting

I was told by very close friends from different backgrounds and at different times to watch the movie Good Will Hunting. For 20 years, I didn’t listen. I believed it was a waste of my time until I finally made the time to watch it. What I focused on was not Will, but Wills’s therapist who reminded me of my dad. Mostly because he fought for Will’s freedom of choice, just like my dad has always done for me.

My dad has always protected me from letting anyone make decisions for me by making sure I knew the power of making my own decisions at all times. He always says, “son, you and I don’t always agree, but that doesn’t mean that I’m right. It just means that we are two different people because I’ve raised you to be yourself always. So I’m proud of you when you disagree with me because it shows me that you are your own person. Even if what I’m saying is garbage at times, you have a dad to always talk to under any circumstance. For that, we are both lucky.”

Both my mom and dad always fought for their children to be children at every turn. This allowed me to see adulthood from a very different angle based on deep acceptance of the inevitable.

I learned from watching Good Will Hunting that my dad, regardless of his brilliant mind, saw a way to coach me through very specifically in an unassuming manner. With skill, clarity, and clear knowingness, he guided me to be aware of awareness in its deepest form: the self-awareness in acceptance.