Letter to Fellow ‘Simpletons’ of the World

The simple-minded, mocked and marginalized, often hold the key to moral clarity and human redemption.

- Wajahat Qazi

Allow me to begin with a brief summation of a brilliant movie starring the fascinating actor Tom Hanks.

In the movie, a floating feather, symbolic of crosscutting themes such as destiny, fate, and human limitations and potential, is key.

Now, regarding the content of the movie: Forrest Gump, played brilliantly by Tom Hanks, is a ‘simpleminded,’ ‘intellectually impaired,’ goodhearted American guy.

Gump, dealt a whammy by fate, loses his mother, who before dying tells him: “Gump, life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.” To the question, “Why are you dying, Mama?” asked by Gump, an adult man, his mother replies: “It’s my time. It’s just my time.”

With tears in her eyes, Gump's mother offers him parting advice: “You have to do the best with what God gave you.”

Gump, bullied at school for his ‘dim-wittedness’ and physical disabilities, breaks his leg in a schoolyard fight. Apparently a debility, this reveals Gump to be a fast runner. He lands in the US. Army, befriends a man, ‘Bubba Blue, and saves his life and that of other soldiers.

While he loses his friend ‘Bubba,’ who had wanted Gump to be a partner in the shrimp business, Gump also loses his beloved (presumably because he is too ‘dimwitted’).

The prelude is filled with Gump becoming a sports celebrity, feted by U.S. President John F. Kennedy at the White House. For his heroism, he is awarded a Medal of Honor by Lyndon B. Johnson. His postwar endeavors include endorsing a sports company in his native Alabama and running a successful shrimp business in honor of his deceased friend, Bubba Blue.