Hidden Figures

The movie Hidden Figures was a movie I wish I had watched and grown up with as a child. The interview was really interesting, when one of the actresses, I think it was Taraji P. Henson, said that she was angry because she felt she had been robbed of a dream. And in a way, I think that's what made the movie so strong emotionally, because you see their dreams and the work they put in to make their dreams a reality not just for themselves but for everyone else after them. And I think that's what made me sad-- that I didn't know these stories, after everything they had done and worked to achieve their goals. Mary spoke about how she was doing this because she wanted to and just had no choice to be the first and how she would the the first. And it makes me wonder, her first was important but how many other firsts are we forgetting? And even if it wasn't a "first", whose stories are we overlooking?

And to be realistic, we're overlooking a lot. We kind of have to. There are 7 billion people in the world, it's impossible to capture stories that will be carbon copies of theirs and create a market on that. But it is possible to celebrate the human experience through stories that reflect and capture the inner truths we believe. Because when it comes down to it, storytelling is about truth.

I mentioned somewhere in a post before that I watched a lot of Korean kids shows growing up, and I guess I related to a lot of characters there. There was this one person, who was I guess a Mr. Rogers but think young, spritely, sister type kind of girl, that everyone aspired to be. She was kind and sweet, and made mistakes and was human, and at the same time was like everyone's older sister. In fact her name was BBommi Unnie, which literally is BBommi big sister. She wasn't anything flashy, think something like Elmo where she does really mundane things but everyone loves her. It's just one of those things parents will use like oh, what would BBommi unnie do to try and get you to be good. And it worked pretty well. I actually have one friend whose dad has a what would Jane Eyre do mantra, and I'm pretty sure he's got it tattooed on his ankle or something. Sometimes it's really nice to have that model to look to and say what would so and so do?

Not because you aren't great and can't make your own decisions but when you're in a point of confusion and insecurity it's really nice to have a model to turn to for some guidance. Albiet in stories, but stories often hold deep lessons and morals too. And it's nice to have that model you can relate to. I feel like everyone has that person they think of when they need to do something they are scared of. I had an english teacher once, who instead of telling us to imagine people naked (apparently this is a thing?) to help calm nerves when delivering speeches, told us instead to put our Pippi faces on. I'm not really sure if either of those things work, but it worked for some, and that's good enough.

We need these models that we can turn to when we are tired, or when we need some sort of hope or a little bit of motivation. Maybe Pippi can't solve stage fright for me, but she did for some. There are real stories that can bring out the best in ourselves. There are inspiring real stories that need our ears and our hearts because they capture beautiful and terrible things about character and the human experience. Sometimes I really think about what makes the human experince so special and I fall back to all the stories that inspire me-- some are just stories of people that are friends of friends. And I think of stories that make me want to be better, there are things we as a nation say to never forget-- and yet how many of these never forgets will we actually never forget? I've seen people work and people make mistakes in passing, and their example means just as much to me too. I just think that we just need these faces and stories that are more universal and inclusive instead of the same typical ones being recycled and reinvented over and over, when there is plenty of fresh and very real material to go off of.