I love famous movie quotes and my favorite movie of all time was the 1987 movie Wall Street starring most notably Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen. I’ve watched it enough times to have memorized some of the lines and one of the most thought-provoking quotes in the movie was actually by actor Hal Holbrook. Hal plays Charlie’s boss in the movie and just as Charlie begins engaging in some less-than-ethical business dealings, he delivers a valuable piece of advice to Charlie. Hal says “Man looks into the abyss, there is nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character, and that is what keeps him out of the abyss”.
That’s pretty deep and ultimately there are varying opinions regarding the meaning of the phrase. In watching the movie, you understand that Charlie must ultimately be able to live with himself for his decisions, right or wrong. That’s a great source of inspiration to me. Each day we make decisions about things we do and things that we say. When the crowd has died down and we are all alone, it’s the mental battle within each one of us, our conscience vs. our morals vs. our values, that must provide us with contentment. When you look in the mirror, you see yourself as the world sees you, the outer you. When you look into total darkness, there is no reflection and you are alone with your thoughts and feelings, the inner you. I’m going to strive to make my decisions and my actions be those that I can live with and be proud of, not those that I regret or that I am ashamed of.