One of my favorite movies ever is The Goonies.
What’s not to love? It’s a classic underdog story, there are PIRATES, a puke story, and it produced one of the greatest music videos of all time, “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough” by Cyndi Lauper.
It is pure eighties greatness!
In case you haven’t seen the movie 1,873 times like me, let me give you the film factoids:
the heroes are a group of misfit kids who live in a place called the “Goon Docks”. Their families are about to all be evicted because their homes are being demolished and turned into a country club!
How’s that for drama?
Led by a slightly sickly dreamer named Mikey (who is destined to become a Hobbit!) they set out to save their homes from demolition, and, in doing so, discover an old Spanish map that leads them on an adventure to unearth the long-lost fortune of One-Eyed Willy, a legendary 17th-century pirate (and the original Goonie). During the entire adventure, they are chased by a family of criminals named the Fratellis, who want the treasure for themselves. Mama Fratelli is one of the scariest movie mothers ever. They end up saving their neighborhood and capturing the bad guys and learn some serious life lessons along the way.
The largest lesson (and one that I’m putting into practice during my current adventure) is…
Goonies never say die.
If you get knocked down, get up again!
Don’t quit.
Don’t let fear hold you back.
Life can be hard, stuff happens.
Don’t give up.
Goonies never say die.
Some other lessons are…
The Goonies are not the cool kids, or the rich kids, or the popular kids.
They were misfits.
We are all misfits sometime.
The Goonies learned that the adventure is more fun when you are with friends.
Speaking of friends, when we judge others by outward appearance we can miss the opportunity to make some of the best friends.
Chunk and Sloth show us that when we overcome fear and refuse to mistreat people who look or act different than us, incredible relationships can happen!
We all have days where we feel like The Goonies.
We even have days where we feel like Sloth.
Rise above.
Never say die.
Be kind.
Share your Baby Ruth.
We all have bad days, we all have rough spots, we face bullies.
Never say die.
Turn bad days into adventures.
The worst days can create some of the most amazing memories.
There are friends to be made, there is treasure to be found even on the worst of days.
Outsmart the things that would bring you down. Leave booty traps AND booby traps for your bullies. Leave little truth bombs that demolish the lies and remind you who and whose you are!
Realize that even though you might be a Goonie from the wrong side of town, you ‘R’ good enough!
Grab the map and let’s look for the treasure that is hidden in today…
But, first let’s all do the truffle shuffle.
carbonated joy 