Nixon/Frost

I was greatly interested to check out the movie "Frost/Nixon." But before I watched the movie, I went back and watched the original annotated interview. It was fascinating. But I thought David Frost was just one step away from really hitting the home run. Nixon admitted that "mistakes were made." But he framed it in a way that was not illegal or immoral. All Frost had to do, in my opinion, was ask Nixon what exactly were those mistakes.

In the movie, Langella (the actor) is much more contrite than Nixon actually was. But the movie was enjoyable. Sheen was perfect as Frost. The underlying conflict is brought out well. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I went back on line and found some additional clips from the original interviews.

Now I was never a "Nixon-phile" in any sense of the word. But I was fascinated by one of Nixon's responses about life in general. He talked about how wanting to be rich and spend your life playing golf or fishing or hunting and going to parties was misguided. He said that life was about struggle. it was about trying something and working hard to make a vision happen. It was about being constructive. It was about being creative. People talked to much and thought too little.

I couldn't be in more agreement with our former president. I see many people who are good at poker for example. The are able to make enough money to get by and even afford some extras in life. But they aren't creating anything. They aren't pushing themselves to be constructive. In the end, they will not be happy. Everyone has talents and abilities. But these traits need to be developed. Need to work at them. Take a chance, a calculated chance, of course. Try to do something and see what happens. It almost doesn't matter if you are successful or not. Try. Try. Try. If you don't, you'll wish you did.

When it cones down to it, risk is not as risky as you think. You at least gave it a shot and it'll be something you'll be glad you did. I guarantee it.