Treading Your Own Path like Forrest Gump

I loved the award winning movie 'Forrest Gump' (1994). Not only because of the great story, but also because of the tendency of the central character to tread his own path. 

Forrest shares his life story where he joins the Army, plays ping pong, falls in love, starts a shrimping company, meets the president and more. But one scene in the movie really caught my attention. It is the scene below and let me describe why.

One day he decides to start running. He runs to the end of his town and then a little more. He runs to the end of his city and then a little more. He runs to the end of his state and then a little more. He just keeps running, and doing what his heart told him to do. Lots of people ask him why he is doing it along the way. 


Nobody seems to have an explanation. Soon Forrest starts getting national interest. His short run has become a coast to coast (across America) marathon and stretched to over three years. The Media put him on the front page of papers and follows his journey cross country. People from all walks of life were inspired by Forrest, put on their running shoes and joined the run with him.

Forrest gave people hope for some reason, he showed people it is alright to do your own thing and not follow what everyone else is doing all the time. Lots of entrepreneurs started some ventures after meeting Forrest along the way. Finally at the end of three years he stops running and goes back home.

Though the movie is fictional there is so much to learn from this experience of Forrest. He had the courage to just do his own thing. He did not have to explain himself to anybody and kept doing it. Soon people saw what Forrest was doing and decided to join in. Similarly, in our own lives, we must not be scared to tread a different path. We must not wait for another person to do something before we tread a new path. 

It is time we ran our own race, and designed our own lives. It is time we found the greatness we always had within us by taking personal responsibility for our lives. It is time we learned from the amazing Forrest Gump.

Movie Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPIEn0M8su0

Read More

Wikipedia -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Gump
IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109830/
Rotten Tomatoes - http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/forrest_gump/

As Robert Frost famously wrote, "Two roads diverged in a wood and I- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."