As the movie, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," approaches its 30 year anniversary of the premiere date, I reflect on how the king of high school finished off his senior year with one last skip day with his best friend and girl friend and in the mean time got into some crazy adventures. Now I'm not saying that you need to cut a day of school to make the day meaningful, but some of the lessons Ferris learned that day are still relevant to the graduating high school senior today. This is in spite the fact the my parents were graduating high school at the time this movie came out. Here are eight reasons why Ferris Bueller and his friends taught you more life lessons in a two hour movie then you learned throughout your high school experience.
1. Activ(ism)
By saying this, Ferris is encouraging people not to label themselves, they can believe it bits and pieces of things, and that's OK because its those bits and pieces that make up a person's character and people should have trust in themselves that they know who they are and what they stand for.
2. Be Tolerant
You are not going to like everyone you meet, but with a little understanding on your part, you may come to terms with how they are acting, and maybe even understand it.
3. Be Self-confident
Ferris's best friend, Cameron, had a problem in the movie with letting people boss him around and determine how is life was going to be. Cameron's father in particular was pushing Cameron down a path he wasn't sure he wanted to go on. However as Cameron realized, and all teenagers do too, that you have to learn how to stand up for yourself, you are in charge of your own life, no one else is. You need to choose the direction you take.
4. Be Optimistic
Some days its going to seem like you can't do anything right and you can't handle anything. However, a bad day is just that, a day, so things will get better.
5.Try New Things
One day you are going to come to the realization that life is short and you can't be scared or worry about things. The things that you worry about now won't matter in a couple of years. Right now, it matters that you enjoy every single day, as Ferris and his friends did on the infamous cut day.
6. Be Adventurous
Try as many new things as possible. This will expose you to so many new and amazing opportunities you never would have seen coming.
7. Be flexible
Every day is a new adventure and you never know where its going to take you. Maybe you will end up on the top of a float during a parade singing, like Ferris Bueller, or it may as be as simple as having a great day hanging out with your friends. Whatever it is, just because its not planned doesn't mean its not going to be good. Go with the flow and embrace whatever comes your way.
8. Live Life
Probably the most infamous quote from the movie. It seems difficult to take a break from your busy work and school schedule, but you need to do it once in a while. Don't be worried about going out instead of studying that extra hour, you need to enjoy things while you can because everything good must end, and you don't want to miss it.
