Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot

Answers to a complex world

I watch a lot of heavy stuff on TV, err, streaming services per se. Much of it is in 15 minutes chunks (my brain can’t tolerate segments longer than that). I have talked earlier about my weaning off Netflix, but generally now, as a rule, I don't switch on the TV until after I write my blog post or until after dinner in order to limit the time that I watch anything. And therefore that way, I don’t watch for too long a time.

Most of my watching includes historical movies and documentaries, and movies and occasionally series that depict reality closely. The gorier the better. And just like my reading, I look to derive patterns from these as I watch them.

Several moons ago, I watched “The Joker” with Joaquin Phoenix as the lead. I do not as a rule watch superhero movies now. It stopped with Superman when I grew up, as I am unable to relate to these now. But as an exception, I enjoyed “The Joker” being an anti-hero and the movie showing the trials, tribulations, and challenges going on inside the person’s head. And an extremely well-depicted performance by Joaquin.

Recently I watched “Don’t worry, he won’t get far on foot” also with Joaquin in the lead role as a quadriplegic portraying the real-life story of John Callahan, the cartoonist based on his autobiography of the same name.

In a nutshell, John Callahan was involved in a car crash in 1972 at the age of 21, that severed his spine and made him a quadriplegic. A heavy drinker since the age of 12 (alcohol had played a role in his crash), the accident could have been the beginning of a downward spiral. Instead, it sparked a personal transformation. After extensive physical therapy, he was eventually able to grasp a pen in his right hand and make rudimentary drawings. By 1978, Callahan had sworn off drinking for good and begun to draw cartoons.

Alcoholics Anonymous and its support groups and the 12-step program were instrumental in John’s recovery. And the movie/books depict its real-life application in John’s case.

I was able to condense the 12-steps into 3 with my own perspective of looking at things:

Step 1: Life owes you nothing. Accept whatever s#!t in life that one gets. In fact, assume that you will get nothing but s#!t, then it becomes even more easier.

Step 2: Don’t expect anything from anybody. Irrespective of all the challenges, you are responsible to do something about your problems in life. Whatever the challenges might be, it is your responsibility to solve them.

Step 3: Now that you are aware of Step 1 and Step 2, the only remaining question is - what the hell are you going to do about it? It is your job to figure it out and act. So, go do something about it. And keep doing it and end up repeating this step.

That’s the AA recovery process in my shortened nutshell, though it is not the soft and compassionate as the 12-step program.

I shall leave you with another of John Callahan’s cartoons to wrap up.