Graduating ‘with honors’

I love watching movies merely for the challenge looking at things with a critical eye. With Honors caught my eye because I’m an academic achiever myself.

For most of us, graduating with honors is a reward for a job well done. When we study and work hard in school, we often have one thing in mind…recognition. In reality, very few of us study merely to gain knowledge or even for the sense of fulfillment knowing we understand what we are studying. We study because of the sense of achievement it brings. I won’t call it selfishness or indifference because it is true we deserve the honor of being recognized after all the hard work. However, this perception limits us to what more we could’ve accomplished.

Monty (Brendan Fraser) used to think this way. He’s so blinded by his adviser’s compliments that when his computer jams, he doesn’t hesitate to run to the library and make copies of his thesis even at an ungodly time of the night. He was making sure he gets a grab-hold on graduating with honors. What he didn’t know was that his foolish action could lead him to an accident, a fortunate one that is.

He trips on his way to the library, and his thesis falls on the boiler room where Simon finds it. Simon refuses to return the thesis and strikes a bargain: Simon will give Monty a page of his thesis for every service he (Monty) performs..

Sometimes, we get caught up in the same situation. We work hard for something until an accident hits us and shatters everything. Though we try to hold on to what we worked so hard for, it just doesn’t seem to work out. What we don’t know is these accidents are rare gifts we should openly accept and learn everything we can from. These accidents teach us the realities of life, things we could never learn by reading books written by Nobel prize winners, or listening to top university professors. It tells us of things yet to be discovered and perhaps never will be, even if they’re so important. These we can learn only by ourselves through accidents.

Simon is a self-proclaimed bum, the fortunate accident in Monty’s life. Simon teaches Monty what all high-class men seem to forget: the simplicity of life. Simon is the type who is content with rubbing stones to remind him of good memories. As inferior as he might consider himself to be, he changes many things Monty believes.

First, he speaks of the genius of the constitution and how it can be changed. He defends their ancestors, who believe they make mistakes so they made the constitution as it is now. He says that the president, as a servant of the people, is still a bum, powerful though he may be.

Monty teaches Simon something else. He tells Simon how he hated his father for leaving him and his mother. Monty tells Simon how his father wrote him just a few times the last time being when he congratulated Monty for getting accepted in Harvard. After that, Monty never heard from his father again because he died. Monty knows Simon is like his father. Simon realizes that he has to at least see his son before he passes away. His dying wish is to see his son. A father indeed could leave home but still have the greatest love for his family.

This situation not only changes Monty but it affects their roommates as well. The movie shows a change in all their personalities. It mirrors the maturity of four young Harvard students.

Simon may be a bum but he was able to change a Harvard student’s perception. Monty threw away his thesis and decided to make a new one; something he really believed in. Monty’s priorities also changed. He chose to grant a dying friend’s wish than finish his thesis and gain the honor he deserves. Suddenly, the recognition seems worthless to him. He contents himself at having met Simon, and learning a lot about life. He may not have graduated with honors but Monty said in Simon’s funeral that he graduated in life with honors and without regret.

I graduated from high school with honors. But having watched the movie again, I realize that I have much to learn. I just hope that I could find the fortunate accident Monty found in Simon.