Marshall Ramsey

AMC played “The Shawshank Redemption” four nights in a row this week. I watched it twice. And wished I had seen it the other times as well.

There is no finer movie about the power of hope floating around Basic Cable.  It’s a textbook example of how to behave when you are wronged.  Don’t whine. Don’t get mad.  Don’t get even.  Plot your escape and get ahead.  I sat there in my Bay St. Louis hotel room watching Andy Dufresne plan his escape and it occurred to me: The prison is a powerful metaphor for your mind when you get screwed over.  I’ve seen people who were and chose to stay behind the walls. They just quit — and allowed the person who did it to them to be like the warden and guards. They got beat down like the prisoner who whined “I don’t belong here” (and was beaten to death by the guards.)  And I’ve seen people who were like Brooks, who couldn’t survive outside of their misery even when offered their freedom.  But I’ve also known people like Andy Dufresne  who patiently plotted their escape. They played the game and then made their move. They got out of their prison and prospered. Viktor Frankl wrote a masterful book called “Man’s Search for Meaning” that touched on the Andy Dufresne ‘s of the Holocaust. The ones who thrived in the middle of Hell on Earth while others around them withered and died. The ones who found meaning. The ones who clung to hope.

Andy Dufresne is my hero.  As he told his friend Red, “Get busy living, or get busy dying.”

That’s good advice for a Monday morning.

Three times I’ve badly stumbled.  And three times it has turned into a major blessing.  It’s funny how life is like that.

Stumble #1: When I graduated from college (with honors), I ended up as a high school janitor.  The blessing: I worked with a lady who set me up with her daughter (who was at The University of Georgia at the time). The daughter is now the mother of my three kids.

Stumble #2: I got cancer.  The blessing: Many good things, including The Run from the Sun, have happened to allow me to be able to help other people who have or face having cancer.

Stumble #3: I was made part-time at The Clarion-Ledger.  The blessing: Ongoing. Stay tuned, though. It’s about to get even better.

There is a golden thread running through all three events, though. Attitude. When I worked hard and had a positive attitude, great things began to happen.  Having a positive attitude doesn’t come natural for me.  But I can tell you this much, I am a believer now.  Give back, work hard and have faith.  It turns stumbles into blessings every time.

Don’t need to turn on the TV to find out if it is a snow day. No, sir. I just wake up and there are my boys, fully dressed and ready to go outside.  At 5:45 a.m.

Yes, these are the same kids who take the jaws of life to get them out of the bed on a school day. So I know, they are dressed, there is snow. So far their accuracy rate is 101%.  There will be no homework, buses, teachers or class when they are looming six inches from my eyeball when I open my eyes.  It’s a snow day.

Of course, the plot thickens when both parents DON’T have a snow day. My wife works at the church as a pre-K teacher, so she’s usually off when they are. Not today.  I, of course, have two cartoons to draw (Friday’s and Sunday’s).  But I’ll be doing it from here.  It’s me and the boys.  Well, I’m inside working and they’re out throwing slush balls.

Grown-ups don’t get snow days.

Remind me why I ever wanted to be a grown-up again? I’m slowly losing everything I loved when I was little. When I was a kid, I loved Batman the TV show, thought Mark Hamil was a good actor and loved snow.  Now I think Adam West makes William Shatner look Shakespearean, realize Mark Hamil whines more than a 3-year-old and loath having to function in a white, slippery world.

Humbug.

I think I’ll go outside for a few minutes, take a few pics for work and throw a snowball or two.  I’m taking a snow day from being an adult — and least for a little while.