“I often ask myself what is the purpose of our lives and I conclude that life’s purpose is to be happy. We have no guarantee what will happen in the future, but we live in hope. That’s what keeps us going.” — His Holiness, the Dalai Lama
I’m married to an optimist and many a morning when feeling weighed down with the demands of the day, I would ask Cliff, is it going to be a good day? And he would lean over and whisper in my ear, Are you kidding me? It’s the stinkin best day ever! Just the very sound of someone telling you it’s going to be a good day can have the effect of a magic wand granting you just that. Living in an acronymous world, SBDE quickly became the shorthand in our household and became the battle cry in a movie I made called Creedmoria.
Creedmoria is a movie about hope. At its center is Candy, a teenager struggling to figure out how to navigate the crazy world she lives in. Her mother is abusive and drinks too much, her gay baby brother needs to fight for his survival at school, her older brother is an addict who lives close to the edge of dying everyday, and her boyfriend is a lout who tattoos her name on his arm as if to prove she’s “his property” — but to Candy, somehow, everyday is the SBDE. Set against the backdrop of a giant mental institution, Creedmoria asks the question, “Which is crazier: to live life without hope or to see hope despite all the sadness around you?”
I wrote Creedmoria while pregnant with my daughter, wondering what kind of mother I would be and reflecting on where I came from. It was a lifelong dream to make a movie and I needed to tell a story of a young woman who beats the odds — who is strong and capable and brave enough to be an optimist in an often-unforgiving world. Someone who lets her light shine no matter the dark forces around her.
Like everybody else, I struggle with all the sadness and despair that seems to abound around us. But I hope I’ve learned a little bit from Candy: Is it really so crazy to think that every day alive is the the stinkin best day ever? — Alicia Slimmer
{Creedmoria is available on Amazon, GooglePlay & iTunes.}