Sustainability Life Entrepreneurship Life Lessons Writing Film
Being There. Life Is a State of Mind! From Chat to Act in the Sustainability Board Game
“Look here: I raised that boy since he was the size of a pissant. And I’ll say right now, he never learned to read and write. No, sir. Had no brains at all. Was stuffed with rice pudding between th’ ears. Shortchanged by the Lord, and dumb as a jackass. Look at him now! Yes, sir, all you’ve gotta be…”
Once upon a time there was a simple gardener. At peace with himself. Illiterate, but who spoke about generalities of his trade with simplicity bordering on apathy. With a high-class presence of a person. His entire life, apparently, was spent within the four walls of a rich mansion. His food was prepared and served by a cook who considered him dumb, slow and clumsy. Indeed, he is limited and slow, but he does not know it. His name is Chance, the gardener (Chauncey Gardner).
Being There (1979) is a satire that hides its true meaning from our eyes and reason, under different layers of dirt. Like life, the film is like a bush, but whose roots we will never see. Therefore, it is necessary to stop and do what we like, retrace the path to see again, relive and, perhaps, stumble upon a chance.
In the whirlwind of day to day we usually do not stop. In fact, often pausing to think or reflect is frowned upon in today’s fast-paced world. Just as in art there are lights and shadows, in music sound and silence, and in sports explosion and relaxation, working life is not and should not be alien to these complementary contrasts.
Because of this, getting back to basics is not only urgent but necessary. We are not dromedaries with humps full of water that allow us to go days without drinking. We need to go back to the source, to the root, to the origin. As in the zamba La Nochera, wakening to the depths of your guitar, towards the time of wood.
Sometimes when we cool down and ponder, we find novel solutions, we shed deep-seated misunderstandings and leech-clinging cognitive biases, and uncover brilliant modern ideas.
Like Joseph Miller (Denzel Washington) in Philadelphia (1993): All right, explain this to me like I’m a 4-year-old! Or, as one of the characters, Sally Hayes (Fran Brill) talking about Chance said: He was very clever keeping at a third-grade level. That’s what they understand.
“Spring, summer, fall, winter… Then spring again”
On my exploratory path, like Chauncey Gardner, I go back and like Denzel I explain it to myself as if I were 4 years old, almost like a board game, space by space, square by square.
I share the path of Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, Impact Investing, Circular Economy, Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), Social Entrepreneurship, etc. etc. etc. to continue understanding where this New Economy is going.
Will people, profit, planet sink in the water or perhaps float on it like a prophet’s miracle?
