That quip is used to frame the relationship between Morgan Freeman’s Red and Tim Robbins’ Andy Dufresne in one of my favorite movies: The Shawshank Redemption. Red has been imprisoned for decades. Though he has learned to the play the system to his advantage- avoiding confrontation with the sadistic guards and using his role as “a man who knows how to get things” to maintain standing among fellow inmates- he does so with a sense of futility. Indeed, every ten years, when Red is up for parole, he smiles broadly and claims to be a reformed man, knowing that his request will inevitably be rejected.
Andy too, has been locked up for years. He knows what he must do to survive in jail, but never fully accepts this existence, clinging to the occasional shreds of normalcy available to himself and the other prisoners- beer, music, chess, posters of movie starlets. Ultimately, when prison life becomes unbearable, Andy’s line “get busy living or get busy dying” depicts the core contrast of the film: between his sense of hope and Red’s resignation.
After watching this movie the other day, it’s been on my mind a lot. The message, at root, is simple. Live life. Make the best of everything. When you get lemons, make lemonade. That we have so many clichéd ways of expressing the same thing reflects a sense of optimism that permeates our culture. My cell phone, in fact, has “Seize the Day” written on the main screen. The American Dream itself is infused with this sentiment- that with hard work and determination, anything is possible.
I’ve been trying, particularly recently, to approach things that bother me with this attitude; reminding myself that nothing improves without a little effort and that there is no reason to be dejected over circumstances within my power to change. It is, unfortunately, simpler to be Red than Andy – far easier to accept setbacks than to fight them, less effort to claim to take a positive outlook than to actually maintain one. Certainly something worthwhile to aim for, though.
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