Shawshank Philosophy

Our family is into movies big time. Next to our library of hundreds of DVDs we have a Top Ten list tacked to the wall. On that list is The Shawshank Redemption. #4 in fact. Every member of our family likes this movie and voted to put it on our Top Ten list for their own reasons. We all agree it's a great movie. There is something about the movie that I particular favor though. It's something I like to call the "Shawshank Philosophy", and no it's not based on the famous "get busy living or get busy dying" line in the movie. It's something a little more subtle that occurs across several pivotal scenes during movie that stuck in my mind since the first time I saw it.

If a person follows the Shawshank Philosophy, they have truly come to terms with themselves and truly don't care what others think. They don't need the acceptance of others to feel good about themselves. No matter what they've done in their lives.

This ideal is weaved into the plot of the movie through several scenes, but the significance of these scenes is often missed by viewers. At least most viewers I've talked to about it. Several times throughout the movie, Red (Morgan Freeman) sits down in front of the parole board trying to get paroled. Each time he sits down and spews out what he thinks the parole board wants to hear. His regret for his crime, what he's learned, blah, blah. Each time he says the same thing because he thinks that's what they want to hear, and each time his parole is rejected. Only when Red has truly come to terms with his life and himself does he go before the parole board one final time and speak truthfully about himself. Yes he regrets the crime that put him in there. Yes he regrets the life he took and pain he caused and there isn't a day that goes by that he wishes he could go back and tell the younger version of himself how stupid he is. He tells the parole board, with complete acceptance of his past criminal behavior, of who he was and where it's led him in his life, to go screw themselves. As he says in the movie, "I don't give a damn!" And that's when he was set free. Figuratively and literally.

I have no insight or knowledge into what Stephen King's intentions were in writing The Shawshank Redemption. Nor do I have any insight into Frank Darabont's intentions filming any of these scenes. But the message I get from Red's ascension into true acceptance of himself and what he's done in his life, is something I think we all should learn from. Nobody's perfect. Nobody's spotless. We all make mistakes. And regardless of whether you're paying for those mistakes deep down inside or by sitting in prison, you have to come to terms with your mistakes, work to correct those mistakes, and accept that your behavior is not who you are. You can learn from it and move on. You can set yourself free. If you can't truly learn from it, grow up, and move on, you'll always be spewing out what you think people want to hear and you'll never get the results you want, or need, to move on with your life.