Directions: Answer the questions below. The page titled, Movie Assignment Rubric, will be used to access this reflection. It can be found on the left side (fifth from bottom) under pages. When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S. Remember, Assignments are worth much more than reflection questions.
Read the following quotes, then answer the question(s) that follow
Jeffrey Azize, the younger of the two brothers, when referring to the homeless people of New York City, asks, “What keeps them going? Why is it that they wake up every day? What is their reason for living? “
The New York homeless African American says, “I’m homeless and I’m happy”.
Dr. William B. Hurlbut M.D. stated, “No matter how bad off a person is…for every body their life was a treasure for them…life is worth living because it just is. It’s not the nature of life to be despairing. Its the nature of life is to be hopeful”
Mama Terri, Permanent volunteer Children’s Home said, “And the joy of living, this is what the kids have… because they want to live, so they don’t mind how painful it is”.
Mama Terri also stated, “Its not what we gave them [the abandoned children]. Its what they gave us. Because they gave us the reason to live”.
The lepers of Ghana experienced their families abandoning them , and thus consequently were forced to live away from others in a colony. Yet they were happy. They were happy that the “band” of brothers came. One of the lepers even exclaimed, “We are happy people!”
Questions: 1) How do you explain the happiness of these people? 2) Why are people (homeless of NYC, abandoned children of Peru and Lepers of Ghana) that you would expect to be depressed and wanting to give up on life, happy? Perhaps the article Being Happy: Secrets of Happy People might be helpful in answering this question. 3) What did the band of brothers discover about the human experience? 4) What do you think is the central message of this movie?