The 3 Life Lessons I Learned from Shawshank Redemption

If you have never seen Shawshank Redemption, then you are definitely missing out. The International Movie Database has Shawshank Redemption listed as number 2 on its top 250 movies list. This movie was originally written as a short story by Steven King (It, Green Mile, Storm of the Century) and it was adapted into a screenplay by Frank Darabont (Green Mile) who also directed the movie. IMDB.com says this as a plot outline, "Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency." I am going to share with you some of life's lessons I have learned from this movie. Warning, this article may contain spoilers to essential plotlines of the movie. If you don't mind, continue reading, but I would suggest that you watch the movie first, then read this article.

Shawshank Redemption Lesson #1: Hope Never Dies
In an emotional climactic part of this movie, Red, played by Morgan Freeman, is feeling hopeless and thinking he may never get out of prison and thinking that if he ever does, he won't know how to live outside of the prison walls that he has lived in for many decades. Andy, played by Tim Robbins, responds... "There are places in this world that aren't made out of stone... there's something inside... that they can't get to, that they can't touch. That's yours... Hope." Andy then goes on to ask Red to go find something the he had hid before he got put in jail, but he wouldn't tell Red to give him something to hope for. In a letter that Andy writes to Red a bit later, he says "Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

Shawshank Redemption Lesson #2: Persistence is Key
When people said it couldn't be done, Rocky Balboa trained harder. A group of ragtag hockey players learned how to fly as a team and become the Mighty Ducks they were destined to be. Persistence, a major theme in many Hollywood movies, shows up in Shawshank Redemption also. When Andy takes over as the prison librarian, he wants to expand the library. He goes to the warden and asks his permission to write to the state asking for funds. Although the warden says that they won't give him any money, he allows him to write anyway. Andy writes a letter a week for many years, and finally they sent him some money and some books. Not satisfied and feelings almost written off, he decides to write 2 letters a week and eventually has $500 a year donated to the prison library system (This was around the 1950s, so $500 went a lot further then). Everyone told him it couldn't be done be he didn't care. He was rejected well over 100 times, but he still persisted and that persistence paid off.

Shawshank Redemption Lesson #3: "Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying"
During Red's feeling of hopelessness, Andy responds to Red by saying "You either get busy living or get busy dying." If you are not doing the things in your life that make you happy that allow you to truly live, then you are simply working on dying. Alcoholics Anonymous has a saying that goes: "You're either working on recovery or you're working on a relapse." If you aren't living life then you are truly dying inside. Do what makes you happy. Spend time with family and friends. Enjoy what you have while you have it, because someday it may be gone.

There are probably many more of life's lessons that can be extracted from this movie, but I think that these are the top three. I hope that this will encourage you to watch the movie again, or if you did end up reading this without having seen it, to go and watch it and enjoy one of the best movies of all time.