Occasionally on vacation, I find myself watching a truly terrible movie. I don’t mean the “sappy-but-sweet” variety—which I’ll admit to enjoying—but the kind of obscure, bottom-shelf cinema that most people have never heard of. Last night, I did it again. It was so poorly made I won’t even tempt you with the title, yet it proved that even in the midst of a bad film, a bad book, or a bad round of golf, there is usually one good thing you can take home.
In this instance, the protagonist was speaking about his service. He said, “I was fighting for what this country could be, not what it has become.” That thought stayed with me long after the credits rolled. It made me wonder: wouldn’t it be transformative if the world’s leaders spoke more about our shared potential rather than our current grievances? On a personal level, shouldn’t we all be striving for what we could be, rather than settling for what we have become?
The movie also leaned on the cynical premise that a nation requires an enemy to stay unified—that without a common foe to hate, we inevitably turn on one another. I’d hate to think that is what we, as a nation of good people, have become. We are capable of differing without becoming enemies.
Ultimately, it led me back to self-reflection. I found myself asking if I am truly working toward being the best version of myself. While I’m certainly not there yet, the effort itself is the point. As my superhero Will used to say, “I want to be the best Will I can be.”
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