2 Portraits of Determination

The film "The Pursuit of Happyness" by Gabriele Muccine is about the tenacity of a 32 year-old man finding success in life. On his first days of business, Chris's investment in medical machines appeared to be fallacious as no one wanted to buy his strange and pricely gadgets. Having no job, lost in his white-elephant plan, things gotten worse when Chris's wife silently went to New York, sending him and his 5 years old son out on the street due to the rental charges. But eventhough facing obstacles seeming insurmountable, Chris's hope was never fated away. He then found an internship opening as a stock broker and decided to participate even with his lack of stock broker education, money, and decent clothes. At times, when Chris and his son had to sleep in a subway station bathroom and eat junk foods, Chris still put his best on selling medical machines, which later on became the leverage to Chris's successful internship work. Finally, he got the job and succeeded at getting his own department and get his son going to school.

Galileo

In 1600s, when the Catholic Church dominated the educational system, a theory that stood against the majority's belief was exposed by an Italian physicist named Galileo Galilei. His theory about planet system stated that it was not the planets went around the earth but the earth itself and other planets spinned around the Sun. The theory was considered to be a crime as it went against what the Catholic Church stated before. Furthermore, the theory was written in Italian, the official language of scholarship; and so the idea could eventually filter into the educational institutions. But despite the Church's warning, Galilei still dedicated his knowledge to search for the science light. Regarded as the authorities' enemy, Galilei was imprisoned for the rest of his life, but his act stood as an emblem of intellectual freedom. And as today shows, Galilei is an undeniable evidence of the courage to stand against popular belief and follow the truths.