Day 13: Article

As you may remember towards the beginning of my project I saw the movie "Blue Like Jazz". The movie is almost a perfect match with my project. The main character Don is a guy keeping himself busy with safe opportunities like volunteering at his church. But when he moves to college he strays away from safe opportunities and moves to adventurous opportunities. Now I am not saying that, like him, I want to get wasted, burn books, and share a bed with an upset lesbian, but he had become very much a yes man, like me.

I am not the only one to identify with Miller.

In "Blue Like Jazz: I was Donald Miller" author Christian Piatt discusses how he too can relate to Donald Miller, the man who lived and wrote Blue Like Jazz.

Piatt admits that, like Miller, he grew up in church, lost his views at college, and was drawn back to religion with the help of a girl. 

Piatt also discusses sitting down with Miller, Taylor (Director of the Movie), and Allman (the actor that played Miller). They talk about making the movie and doing whatever they could to make their dream happen. They were unable to raise enough money so they called it quits. Miller even announced on his blog that the movie wasn't going to make. So two fans stepped up and developed a system of getting people to donate money for the movie in return to get their names in the credits. You can see evidence of this when they roll the credits and there are thousands of names running down the right side of the credits. And then he goes on to discuss the differences between the movie and the book. 

I couldn't help but read this article and think of the "Yes Man". If Taylor hadn't decided to listen the two fans who wanted to help him raise money, this movie would have never happened. If Allman decided to not take the request to audition for this part, the movie would have a different feel. If Miller hadn't chosen to go to Reed this story would be non-existent. 

Overall, I have been learning from this project that life is a "yes man" project. Meaning, our lives are full of taking or not taking opportunities and the results of which option we choose. Our lives are full of moments that can alter our path. Sometimes it's ok to say yes even if you're afraid. So as always I encourage that, at least for one day, you try to not turn down any opportunities. Talk to you soon!