In 1993, a hapless mother who had been divorced twice, had 3 children, only $16 on her bank card, and did not even have a legal background, worked as a handyman at a law firm for more than a year and a half, winning the largest civil compensation case in U.S. history for 643 residents who were deeply affected by water pollution, and received the largest compensation in the history of American litigation - $333 million.
This real-life event that shocked the United States was later made into a movie by Universal Pictures, which is the Douban high-scoring classic movie "Never Compromise".
The protagonist of the story, with the same name as the real person - Irene Brokovich.
When I watched this movie when I was young, all I remembered was hilarity, and after many years, when I also became a mother and revisited this classic again, I realized the 3 poking truths hidden in the film.
These truths are like a needle that still pierces our hearts 20 years later.
1. The laziness of reading must always be returned in life
Irene Brokovich, didn't go to college. When I was in school, I went to high school and went to participate in beauty contests. Meet someone you like, fall in love, and then get married.
After giving birth to a child, because of various contradictions, the couple's life was extremely unsatisfactory, and it did not take long for them to divorce. Who would have expected, similar marriages, she repeated again.
After 2 failed marriages, she got nothing but 3 children and 1 house. When she went to apply for a job, she couldn't get any certificates that could prove her professional ability, and she couldn't even use a computer.
In addition to this, she also owes the government $17,000 in various dues, while her bank card deposit is only $16!
With a succession of job failures, nowhere to turn to, and 3 unattended children, the difficult reality of the environment has made Erin almost on the verge of collapse.
Source: The movie "Never Compromise"
But the cruelty of life, there is no worst, only worse.
Irene, who had no way to make a living, was on her way home from a broken car when she was hit and injured in the neck by a car that suddenly rushed out from the side.
In order to soberly take care of her children, Irene, who did not even dare to take medicine, had to go to the law firm to ask a lawyer to fight the lawsuit. But worse, in court, the opposing defense lawyer, who should have been fully responsible, provoked Irene with the radical method, so that she eventually lost the case.
Emerson said: "Being knocked down by life is not the worst failure, giving up trying is the real failure." ”
Think about it, think deeply.
Irene, in a desperate situation, with only a little money to eat a full meal, and then she made a choice that shattered our jaws — she found lawyer Ed who had helped her through the lawsuit and said to him, "I don't want your pity, I want a salary." I also tried to find a job, but I was a yellow-faced woman for six years, and it was difficult to find a good job. I'm smart and hardworking, and I'm willing to do anything. If you don't invite me, I won't go. If I can't do it, fire me. ”
As a result, it was this period of poor and helpless fierce job search that made Irene step into the civil compensation case that shocked the United States!
Someone once said: "Reading books cannot guarantee that fate will treat you well, but reading more books can ensure that you treat fate well." ”
What about the other way around? There are thousands of ways in the world that can be given up, and the last thing that should not be and cannot be given up is the one that reads.
Forced to the end of the road, only to force out the vitality of survival, not so much that life punished her, rather than saying that the slap of life only reminded her: "Lazy in reading, fate will not chase you for help, but always have to pay back in life." ”
2. The hard ability to make a living can only have confidence on its own
The first thing Erin did, when she finally got a job offer, was not to go to work immediately, but to go to Ed's office and borrow money with a thick skin.
Ed helplessly and disgustedly stuffed her with 100 yuan!
In the scornful eyes of the entire law firm, Irene took the money bitterly but stubbornly, followed the secretary Appointed by Ed, and began to find her own place.
Because she has participated in beauty contests and even been selected as a beauty queen, Irene is in good shape, and although she has lived with three children, she is still in good shape.
The style of her dress is always low-cut + miniskirt + high heels + long curly hair. Her boss, Ed, reminded her that although you weren't trained, you shouldn't dress more formally when you worked at the law firm.
As a result, she was extremely angry and said: "I am still very moving, I love to wear how to wear it, you have no opinion, right?" ”
In a word, choked Ed had to give up.
Later, Ed gave her a job sorting out case materials. The material to be sorted out is a list of willingness communications from a real estate company to buy a house.
Irene didn't know the correct tidying up process, so she asked her colleague for advice, only to be impatiently pushed back by her colleague. Irene, who had no way to ask for help, had to leave a note for Ed to go out to investigate the next day, and then took the information to the owner's home to inquire one by one.
Then, according to the information obtained in the inquiry, go to the query layer by layer.
A week later, she really found the catty hidden in this seemingly ordinary house purchase case from the message, so she began a series of tracking.
Mika Nakajima said, "In the darkest part of life, I pulled myself out of the abyss, and without that person, I would be that person." ”
This sentence, for Irene to seek to survive, do not pity, to get a salary stubbornness, made a particularly sincere note.
The troughs of life, being looked down upon, being ridiculed, being rejected, and even being calculated are all normal things.
Whether it is the workplace or life, in order to survive, you must have the hard ability to survive on your own - that is, the ability to provide value to others through hard work.
When Irene had no way to ask for help, she relied on herself to explore the cattiness behind the purchase of the real estate company, and the method was very stupid: asking questions one by one, and understanding information by information.
In this process, she even risked the three children she could not take care of to give to neighbors who were not yet familiar.
But the world is still fair after all, and your efforts will always be rewarded in another way.
Irene, who sacrificed her time with her children, grew from a handyman who knew nothing and nothing in her eighteen-month-to-day investigation to Ed's assistant.
There is a line in the TV series "The First Half of My Life" that says: "The way to save yourself, you have to go step by step, you have to stutter yourself, cramp and peel to be reborn, there is no shortcut." ”
This is true.
Relying on the efforts of others to point out, there is more or less a price behind it. Only by relying on the hard ability to fight by oneself can we really contain the courage to save ourselves.
The so-called good mother is to grit her teeth and violently carry down all the difficulties.
You have to work hard and take good care of your children; you have to earn more money and be a good mother; you have to rely on your own ability to get recognition in the law firm; and you have to rely on your own efforts to win back the self-esteem that you have lost.
The way to redeem oneself is never easy. This is especially true for a single mom with three children who wants to redeem herself.
But the most ruthless thing about life is that it never makes it more difficult to step through the thorns because of who is a woman.
With the increase in the value of her own abilities, and the ultimate unlimited support of Ed, the gray-faced Erin, in a sincere effort, with tenacity and good empathy, gradually won the recognition of all the victims in the case.
This allowed her to win the whole case, to fight for more and greater possibilities for the victims, and to win one opportunity after another.
However, the smooth work also made Irene pay a lot of sacrifices.
When the youngest daughter opened her mouth to say the first words of her life, she was on her way home after completing the evidence collection. When her neighbor and boyfriend later told her about her daughter's speech word for word, Irene, who was driving, was sad and burst into tears.
On the eve of the final victory, while the children were waiting for her to make breakfast, she fell asleep on the couch tired of sorting out the information for the night.
The boyfriend who has always supported her, in the madness of always waiting for her to come home on time, has issued an ultimatum to her to leave if he balances the matter between not working well and taking care of the children...
I couldn't find a babysitter, so I had to take my three children to the office together, go to the workstation to check the information together, and then take the children to the next station after finishing the work.
After gritting her teeth and carrying all the hardships along the way, Irene ushered in the highlight moment of redemption:
For $333 million in damages, Attorney Ed received 40% of the proceeds, and as an assistant, Ed gave her a $2 million reward!
Kazuo Inamori once said, "The peak of bad luck is also the beginning of good luck." Choosing to accept everything is the strongest person in life. ”
The trough of life, complaining is useless, accepting bad, and redeeming yourself is the most reliable way and the only way to go.
The so-called good mother is carrying the child, but also carrying life and life, when all the difficulties are redeemed into the past, your good will be seen.
There is a passage in "The Reader" that says: "Life, the pursuit of the heart, is taken into desire; life, is the tribulation on the branches, is dried into strength." Carrying a bag on your back will be burdensome; letting go of the burden can be redeemed. ”
The life of an adult is too arbitrary, and there are many tribulations; there are many things that should be hard to live, and there are many people who should endure without hard ability.
To make a living in the world, both men and women, when cornered, fear or helplessness can not bring any luck.
In those gray years, what made us grit our teeth and finally carry through the difficulties was not great heroism, but the tenacity that never gave up.
Text / A little new