6 Life Lessons We Can Learn from "Untouchable Friends"
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One of the stories of self-improvement that have been most successful, mainly because the movie "Untouchable Friends" made her known around the world.
Philippe is a French man of good economic standing who becomes tetraplegic and happens to need someone to take care of him. This person turns out to be Abdel, an Algerian man who lives in a marginal environment and is an ex-con.
The cultural clash that occurs between both will be at the same time the spark that will lead them to lend each other mutual support to overcome the different barriers that each one has to overcome.
There are many lessons to be learned from the story of Philippe and Abdel, here we leave you 6 that we hope will help you overcome your own difficulties.
1- Nobody needs them to feel sorry for them, but empathy.
Why?
When feeling sorry for a person two things happen, on the one hand we are giving the message to the other that he or she suffers from something that he has to regret, making him focus on what he lacks and not on what he has , which ultimately limits it.
On the other hand it makes us see everything that the other is incapable of doing, instead of seeing the potential of all those things that it can do.
Abdel never felt sorry for Philippe and this is precisely what the Frenchman is most grateful for:
"I needed to find my north again. The pity is the last thing you need for it. In pity there is no hope. The pity is what someone gives you because they are afraid of really taking care of you. I did not need that. "- Philippe Pozzo Di Borgo
2- Appearances do not matter.
People sometimes unconsciously evaluate others based solely on observable things, their physical appearance, clothing, social circle, the sector in which they live, etc; and in doing so we create a division between them and us and we put a wall between those who are like me and those who are not.
But the truth is that when we are able to evaluate a person beyond how they look, beyond "their cover", we get pleasant surprises.
People are many more than just covers, we are much more beautiful and complex than that, all of us, without exception. When we give ourselves the opportunity to see others for what they really are, for what they do, for how they live, for what they give to the world, we usually learn a lot from life.
Philipe did not judge Abdel and Abdel did not judge Philipe and both found in the other all they had to understand about life: there are many more things that unite us as human beings than those that separate us.
3- Never lose hope.
Hope is not rational, hope does not always make sense and hope always seems to see beyond the obvious. But if we have no hope left, what do we have left?
Hope is beautiful, it is like a single candle lit in the darkest night, we never have to lose it, because it gives us the light we need to continue on our way. Hope makes us go forward, we do not give up, it feeds our dreams and consoles our disappointments. Hope is vital because it illuminates the path to happiness.
Philippe and Abdel represent two people in hopeless situations. One confined to a wheelchair and without the ability to move from the neck down. The other coming from a marginal neighborhood, where everyone had lost hope in him. Everything except himself. That was what led him to take the job with Philipe and ultimately to change the course of his life, and Philippe's, for better and forever.
We should never lose hope, because although the panorama looks very dark, let's not forget that even the darkest clouds fall clean water.
4- Life is richer when taken with humor.
We all have flaws, sometimes it makes us laugh at them. Philippe and Abdel are the perfect example of this, both know that their lives are full of ironies and difficulties, but none are left depressed by them.
"Life in a wheelchair can be fun and also sad. I think many people find that having a disability is frightening, but what we want is for people to relax around us and this guy Abdel has so much sense of humor. Never idiot, just funny. I like to laugh. "- Philippe Pozzo Di Borgo
Most of us know from experience that having a sense of humor about things makes life easier.
There are certain studies that support that laughing at ourselves contributes to our being happier and improves our mood in general. It also makes us more resilient people and increases our ability to forgive others and ourselves. "If you can laugh at yourself, you can forgive yourself" and "if you can forgive yourself, you can forgive someone else" says Susan Sparks in Psychology Today.
Life is much richer when taken with humor, try it!
5- People deserve to be given an opportunity.
When we are able to break down our prejudices and our preconceptions about others we realize their potentials and see things that perhaps nobody else values.
Many times the only thing that a person needs is that another person believes in her, and in that way she begins to believe in herself.
Philippe was able to see beyond Abdel's race, past and social status and decided to give him the opportunity to work for him. Abdel was able to see beyond Philippe's physical condition, and their attitude changed their lives forever and for the better.
People deserve to be given an opportunity, whether they meet expectations or not, everyone deserves the opportunity to prove himself and everyone deserves someone to believe in them.
6- The least expected people can give you the most important lessons of your life.
It has ever happened to you that someone very old or very young says something that makes you throw your head back and think, how I had not realized that before?
This happens because many times the most different people are the ones who can broaden our eyes in front of life and make us see everything we were not seeing.
Philippe and Abdel are completely different people, who probably did not imagine that one could learn from the other, but they did. Why? Because life is very diverse and we need each other to understand it in its full extension.
We all have our own stories, our own experiences and our own feelings; and we all have something to give to others. Our life is unique and therefore our vision too, never think that you have nothing to teach another. You for being you are very valuable to someone else, worry about delivering what you keep inside.
@anam49