Ferris Bueller has always been one of the most fun movies I’ve ever seen. Even 25 years later, I can watch it and thoroughly enjoy it. Was it life-altering? At the time, no. But now I’m 25-years wiser and looking back, I realize that many of life’s important lessons that I’ve since learned were waiting right there for me, on the silver screen during Ferris Bueller. If only I was ready to hear them at the time, I could have saved myself a lot of life experience. …
Ferris taught me to live in the present.
You know, we spend all this time trying to grow up, become responsible people and contribute to society and all that; but when it is all said and done, Ferris had it right from the beginning. If you’re not present in the moment, enjoying the here and now, you aren’t living life to its fullest. Carpe diem, seize the day … Robin Williams also learned a lot from Ferris. So many of us spend our time either looking back at all the past had to offer us, or worrying about everything we need to do in the near future, or wondering how we can create our distant future to look exactly the way we want. By doing that, how much of our life are we missing? Just about every single second of it. I know if I’m too busy worrying about what’s for dinner, when I’m going to get to the grocery store, when that stack of library books is due and how I am ever going to get all of it done, I’m certainly not able to enjoy a peaceful nature walk with my son. Getting to see nature through his six-year-old eyes is a fleeting moment in my long life, and if I don’t take the time to enjoy exactly that moment, it will be gone. Ferris totally got that, and instead of worrying about graduation, college, future, etc., he seized the day and lived in the moment. All that other stuff will still come, but Ferris will live it when it does, not before he has to.
Cameron taught me to take a stand and speak my truth.
Being respectful and kind to others is all well and good, but no one needs to stand for abuse, whether it be the tight reins Cameron’s father had on him, or simply someone speaking to you in a way that you don’t want to be spoken to. Until the moment Cameron found his truth, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever be okay, if he’d ever rid himself of his lifelong anxiety. Something tells me that conversation Cameron will have with his father will go just fine, because when you speak your truth it’s nearly impossible for anyone to get angry. It’s not accusatory, it’s not about blame, it’s not about what the other person has done or failed to do. It’s about what you need and how you choose to take the responsibility to get that for yourself, without letting anyone stand in your way. It’s a pretty powerful vibration that leads straight to happiness, understanding and love.
Charlie Sheen’s “Boy in Police Station” taught me to worry about myself and not what everyone else is doing.
Like Ferris’s sister Jeanie did, it’s pretty easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing, not doing, getting away with; what they have, what you don’t, everything. If you’re always so worried about the next guy, how can you ever find the happiness that’s meant for you? You may not be destined to use your cleverness to skip school and lead a parade float. Jeanie was stuck under Ferris’s shadow because she put herself there, with the constant comparisons and resentments of everything that was Ferris. Thanks to “Boy,” Jeanie is on the fast track to finding out who she really is when she stands on her own.
It’s the interactions with the people in your life that teach you the most.
Sure, in the movie, the lesson was basically that friends are important, but it really goes much deeper than this. Cameron couldn’t have learned to speak his truth without Ferris, and with Charlie Sheen‘s nameless character, Jeanie wouldn’t have learned to be happy with herself. I believe that the people that are in your life are there for a reason: you have something to learn from them, or vice versa. Did Jeanie need to meet that boy in the police station at exactly the moment she did? You betcha, and if we all collectively tune in to our interactions with the people we meet, and consider what that interaction means to us or them, we’ll be able to learn those little life lessons every day. I’ve learned patience from my son, not to be a martyr from my mother and how to communicate effectively from my husband. Look for how the people in your life can teach you to be your true self.
Happy Anniversary, Ferris, and may you still affect viewers positively in 25 more years.
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jun 11, 2011 @ 14:30 EST5EDT
