Perhaps this is the meaning of life — be sure to try at all costs. It doesn’t really matter if it’s successful or not.
“The film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”) I first saw almost by accident, in Budapest, in the summer of 1977. I bought a ticket, entered the cinema … and came out different. In this great picture, Jack Nicholson plays a man named McMurphy: he ended up in a psychiatric hospital for his violent temper and tries to stir up patients who are quite healthy, but «hidden» here from the outside and hostile world. In a key scene, he argues with them that he will tear the heaviest washstand off the floor. Here he bends down, grabs it and tries to tear it off — the veins swell on the forehead, on the neck, it seems that the veins of you yourself will burst right now — but there is not enough strength. He straightens up, turns around and walks away slowly to the chuckles of those he argued with. Then he stops for a moment and says, «At least I tried.» And suddenly I realized: this is the meaning of life — by all means, by all means, you must try. It doesn’t matter if it’s successful or not. Because even if you are not lucky, your example will be decisive for someone else … »
* The protagonist of the film «One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest» by Milos Forman, based on the novel by American writer Ken Kesey. The film was released in 1975 and won five Oscars.