By Charles Mawungwa
I grew up with a culture of watching films and once in a while you come across a film that totally impacts you for the rest of your life.
On July 6 1994 the world was introduced to a film that would go on to win 5 Oscars and inspire millions of people around the world. Using Eric Roth’s screenplay adaptation of the novel Forest Gump, Robert Zemeckis literally broke every rule of filmmaking in his direction of the film.
Forest was simply a story about overcoming obstacles in life. Forest (played by Tom Hanks) is born with a below average IQ of 75, raised by a single mother and has to wear leg braces as a child. To me these leg braces were symbolic of the psychological barriers that stopped Forest from realizing his true potential. Indeed the first and greatest barrier that a person has to overcome before they can be a success at anything is that of the mind. But every hero has a defining moment, a moment when they step out of the ordinary and overcome their own psychological inhibitions. For Forest, this happens in the iconic scene where a group of bullies chase after him, and the only way to escape a thorough beating was to run faster than the leg braces could allow him. He runs so fast, and with such determination that these braces break and fall off. We all have our own ‘mental’ braces in one form or the other; lies that we have entertained to comfort ourselves in mediocrity.
When I watched this film as a schoolboy in 2002, I felt challenged to run faster than my mental braces could allow me. As soon as I finished school in 2006 my friend Spencer and I decided to do a 430 km walk from Harare to Bulawayo. Neither of us had done any athletics, sports or exercise really, so everybody told us we were crazy but I felt I had to break the mental barriers that I had entertained in my life. I knew that the same determination needed to walk for 430km is the same determination I would need to succeed in archieving my life goals. If I could overcome that barrier, I could overcome in anything.
When we were planning the walk I specifically remember talking to Spencer about Forest Gump and how at some point he runs for 3 years 2 months 14 days and 16 hours all for no particular reason. Of specific interest was how by the end of the walk, he had inspired so many people. Then again that only happens in films. Or does it? When we finished our Harare to Bulawayo walk in 9 days, like Forest we had people who phoned from all over Zimbabwe saying they were inspired and would like to join us in future walks.
I realized watching this film, that the moment I stopped focusing on my weaknesses and what I lacked, the moment I began to believe I was able, would be the moment of my success. For all those who are being held back by mental braces, I leave you with the wise words from a little girl, “Run Forest! Run”