Wall Street Wisdom

One of my favorite movies is the 1987 blockbuster "Wall Street". Well, maybe it wasn't a blockbuster. It was probably at best, a B+ movie. Even though Michael Douglas did win an Oscar for best actor in a leading role. The plot was simple. The characters predictable. I relate to the movie on a couple of levels. I spent time working on Wall Street. Although these characters are fictional, I have associated with the real people from which these characters were drawn. They do exist. I have worked with them. I have seen them in action. I have heard the speeches, seen the conflicts and felt the intense emotion evoked by being around that much money. The thing that I like most about the movie are the intriguing lines that have lived on beyond the movie itself. Many of these lines have come back to me throughout the years and I have used them as earmarks of conventional wisdom. For example:

Martin Sheen as Carl Fox. Blue collar aircraft worker as said to his son Bud Fox played by Charlie Sheen: "Stop going for the easy buck and start producing something with your life. Create, instead of living off the buying and selling of others."

Gordon Gekko, investor, corporate raider played by Michael Douglas in a speech at a shareholders meeting: "The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works."

Hal Holbrook as Lou Mannheim, Bud Fox's boss and mentor: "The main thing about money, Bud, is that it makes you do things you don't want to do."

And one of my favorite lines which seems to be echoing in my head of late.

Once again Hal Holbrook as Lou Mannheim to the young broker Bud Fox: "A man looks in the abyss, there is nothing staring back at him. At that moment he discovers his character. That keeps the man out of the abyss."

Many times I have felt like I was staring into an abyss. Never more than at this time in my life. The question I ask myself daily is; Will I discover my true character and will it prevent me from falling into that abyss?

I will have to dig deep. I will have to summon every ounce of personal strength and will power. I will have to look to God, and the support of friends and family. But I am committed to not fall into that abyss.