Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

When a man in Shreveport last week shot and killed another man who had come to assist his wife in a custody dispute, I wondered what made him think that taking another man's life was the only choice he had to resolve this conflict.

Shreveport was also the scene of a bank robbery, where a police officer was wounded before the robber was shot down and killed.

No doubt in the days and weeks to come, we will learn that these offenders were victims of some unfortunate circumstance; an alcoholic mother, an abusive father. But the bottom line is, we all have choices.

Most of us probably know someone who suffered terribly and, despite the unfortunate hand dealt them, never gave up hope and decided not to lay down and die, but to get busy living their life and make the best they can of it.

The person that I thought of is a fictional character, but whose story
is undoubtedly one of enduring hope under the worst circumstances.

The character is Andy, (played by Tim Robbins) from the movie "The Shawshank Redemption." In the movie,
Andy's character is falsely accused (like Harrison Ford's character in The Fugitive)
and sentenced to jail, where he endures extreme abuse.

When his accounting skills draw the attention of the warden, Andy agrees to help him hide earnings from his illegal profiteering. Andy is now given a reprieve from the abuse because of the assistance he provides to the warden and other guards at the prison.

In another unfortunate turn of events for Andy, a new inmate tells Andy that he has evidence to prove his innocence, and Andy asks for an appeal. The warden, fearing Andy's release would bring his illegal activity to light, refuses. When Andy then refuses to do his finances, the warden gives him 2 months of solitary confinement.

Andy realizes his only chance at freedom is up to him. He devises a way to escape, and with the money he has helped the warden hide, he breaks out of jail.


But it is during a conversation with his inmate friend Red, played by Morgan Freeman, that Andy says one of the greatest lines from the movie. When Red tells him that it is futile to try to get out of jail (after he himself experiences repeated parole denials), Andy tells Red his only choices are to "get busy living or get busy dying". He refuses to give up hope that his life could change, while acknowledging that he had to be the one to change it.


The other person I thought of is one Lauren Grandcolas. Lauren was on Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. At the time of her death, she was working on a motivational self-help book for women struggling with their self-esteem. Her work continues through the foundation set up by her husband, the Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas Foundation. Lauren's husband, refusing to let her legacy die with her and the child she was carrying at the time of her death, got busy making sure her legacy continued. Lauren had adopted as her motto the line from "The Shawshank Redemption" that is the title of this article. Lauren's hope was to see that people also arrived at the same conclusion Andy did, that if you want your life to be different, you have to get busy living, or you are just dying.

While reading the story about the custody dispute shooting, along with all the other crimes committed last week, all I could think was that these offenders are just busy dying.