Just Click
I saw Adam Sandler’s movie "Click" last weekend and I totally identified myself with his character, the hard-working, persecuted and harrassed Micheal Newman. I must be turning into a mental case if I identified myself an Adam Sandler character but its true! Adam’s character was an ordinary joe who got blessed with a wonderful family but a lousy paycheck.
Out of all of his movies, CLICK definitely had the most heart and it’s almost a simple story about a middle-class guy, hoping and dreaming of making it big in work for the sake of his family. But the crux is, when Micheal chose to pursue his career when he went fast forward, he was put on auto pilot where all his choices were for the good of his job and not for his family. His family life suffered as a consequence of his rise to success.
The message of the story was very touching, it examined the choices one has to make in life and I admit I shed a few tears on the last few scenes. "CLICK" is definitely the perfect movie for workaholics and "toxic" people out there.
Lately, I’ve also been wishing I had a universal remote to just not deal with the mess and stress I’m facing right and that I could just fast forward to the time when things are nice and peachy. I’ve been daydreaming about fast forwarding to four years from now, that I’m a lawyer, that I’m geeting married and that I’m fast on my way to becoming a legal eagle. But life as it is, there is no fast track to success. Blood, sweat and tears pave the way to the sweetest of life’s truimphs.
People usually never need to ask my motivations behind taking law– as I recall, most male friends call me a "female activist" and I’ve always been the first to head causes and issues that I feel are unfair or unjust. To most people who know me, my taking up law was a natural progression that needed no further explanation.
But I distinctly remember the scholarship screening, how 40-plus people got grilled by a panel of law school deans and luminaries on their reasons for pursuing law. I remember being asked to recite the preamble–with disastruous results. And I also remember one of the panelists, a rather tough looking oldtimer asking, "So why did you take up law? For money? For the title?" He seemed very skeptical of my motives, I mean, here I am, a young lady who looks too good-natured and delicate, fighting for a chance at the scholarship. He literally dissected me on sight and obviously found me unable to fit the mold of what should be a law student.
And I just said, "I just want to make a difference."
It sounds stupidly idealistic and laughably trite I know— but that’s my motivation for studying law. Right now, my mother and Vince is trying hard to side-track my one-track mind from pursuing a law career in the government. But I don’t really care about the money coporate law is going to bring and while I’m considering private law/prosecutor, I just want to be like my favorite attorney Katrina Legarda. I remember watching the Jalosjos case and going, "Wow, that’s the woman I want to be when I grow up."
And I have grown up and this passion to be this great woman who served to defend and help the oppressed female victims has not faded one bit. Everyday, my determination to bring about change, even in the smallest ways grows stronger and more vibrant. I want to be the woman who’d stand up for those who’ve been weighed down by abuse.
Right now, my path though isn’t the easiest. While thanks to my scholarship I get to pursue my vision, the other distractions are KILLING me. 9 hours of work in the office, school at night, the hazards of public transportation— I go through these every single day just to reach my dream. Like Adam Sandler’s character– I just want to get things over and done with, be on auto-pilot so i wouldn’t have to suffer through small but stressful emotional nuances. I sometimes just want to fast forward to four years from now— but then again, I realized… I wouldn’t be the woman I want to be if I didn’t go through such difficult times.
So note to self: just click back to your motivations and forget those annoying distractions. Your time and energy is best spent on following your dreams.
*Adversity builds character.*
