From the Streets to Wall Street: The Inspiring Journey of Chris Gardner - A YouTube Script
This is a writing sample from Scripted writer Philip Young
What would you do if you found yourself penniless and on the streets? Would you ever dare to dream of one day being a millionaire? Well, one man did.
It is a cold night in San Francisco; a man struggles to keep his child warm in a doorway. His belly aches with hunger and guilt as he wipes the tears from his child's eye. He looks up at the warm glow of the rich apartment blocks, wishing they were safe inside. He whispers to his child, 'One day, that's where we'll be.'
So, who is this man homeless on the streets of San Francisco? Born into poverty and bad luck. You might not believe it, but that man in that doorway trying to keep his child warm is Chris Gardener, who wasn't always rich. So where did it all go wrong, and when did it all go right? This is how Chris Gardner rose from the Streets to Wall Street.
Chris Gardner, a self-made millionaire, motivational speaker, and philanthropist, continues to inspire millions worldwide with his incredible life story. Chris Gardner entered the world in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on February 9, 1954. His early years were marked by hardship and adversity. Gardner's journey from humble beginnings to remarkable success is a testament to the power of determination and resilience, resonating with people from all walks of life.
Gardner's childhood was far from ideal. His father was mostly absent, and his stepfather, Freddie Triplett, subjected the family to violent abuse. Both he, his sister, and his Mother lived in constant fear. Triplett didn't stop there; once, he falsely reported Gardner's Mother, Betty, to the authorities for welfare fraud. This false accusation led to Betty's imprisonment, and the courts put Chris and his sisters into foster care. Betty fought to get them back.
But not soon after returning home, Chris, only eight years old, was dealt another blow when his Mother, Betty, reached the end of her rope after years of abuse under Triplett's hand and burned down the family home while Tripett was inside. Betty was sent back to prison, and Chris and his sisters returned to foster care. Not only that, but no one even told them why they were there or where their Mother was. A young boy left to think his Mother abandoned him when she was, in fact, protecting him.
Alone and afraid, the first of Chris' guardian angels was about to arrive. During his time in foster care, he grew close to one of his Uncles, Henry. Henry, an ex-soldier, was Chris's first positive male role model, giving him support and courage and teaching him about jazz music. A handsome and well-dressed man sporting a goatee, Henry and Chris would talk for hours. He became like a second Father to Chris, teaching him to swim and instilling the message of 'live large' in him.
However, it was not to last. When Chris was nine, Henry drowned in the Mississippi River; his world shattered. Again. Henry died as he lived, pushing the envelope of life. At Henry's funeral, it was only then that he and his sisters discovered that their Mother was in prison when she arrived in chains with a police escort. What a way to find out, eh?
You see, despite everything, Betty was still a positive influence on Chris. He has only ever described her with love, respect, and tenderness. She encouraged him to believe in himself when others didn't. Her words etched inside his head that would repeat themselves time and again, 'You can only depend on yourself. The Cavalry ain't coming'.
Gardner's time in foster care left him with deep emotional scars. In one case of neglect by his foster parents, he fell victim to a sex predator. Life for Chris was more than tough; it was sometimes unbearable.
His joy when he and his sisters were returned to Betty must have been tenfold. Betty was determined that her children would have a better life than she had. She brought them to the library and made Chris focus his attention on college education. And most importantly, to make money. He often recalls watching a basketball game and remarking to his Mother that the players would soon be millionaires. His Mother smiled and replied, 'Chris, one day you too can be a millionaire.'
This support and encouragement from Betty give Chris the drive to excel. He gained a scholarship to attend Cranbrook-Kingswood, a private boarding school in the suburbs of Detroit, leaving the rough public schools and streets behind him. His luck, at last, was in.
After graduating from high school, Chris decided to follow in his uncle's footsteps and join the military as a Hospital Corpsman. He knew he could never afford college, but the Army could still educate him towards a vocation. For four years, he continued to show promise and drive, attracting the attention of a decorated surgeon named Dr. Robert Ellis. Ellis enlisted him as his assistant, and Chris seized the chance with both hands. The position took him to San Francisco after being discharged. There, he worked tirelessly, learning to manage a laboratory and co-authoring articles with Ellis for medical journals. Chris's life was moving. Upward.
More good fortune came when he met and married a teacher named Sherry Dyson. At first, all was well, building a life together, working hard, and dreaming of the bright future ahead. But Chris was about to make a decision that would change his life forever. You see, Chris saw no future for himself in medicine. The training required to advance in the profession wasn't worth the payoff for him. So, much to Sherry's shock and anger, he quit.
Things quickly went downhill between him and Sherry. Their relationship became cold, and detachment set in. The breakdown of his marriage led Chris to begin an affair with Jackie Medina, a dental nurse. She quickly fell pregnant. Making yet another decision that would change the course of his life. He left Sherry and moved in with Jackie. He took a low-paid job as a lab assistant, but the salary was insufficient for the family to survive. It was a tough four years getting by; Chris, always restless, wanted more. So he quit to start again; another avenue appeared that Chris saw an advantage in and overnight doubled his salary as a medical equipment salesman.
With financial worries behind him, for now, Chris began to focus on his son, which made him reflect on his own childhood. Being a Father, he realized that he had never known his own. So he set out to finally find and meet his own. That meeting had a profound effect on him.
When he stepped off the plane in San Francisco back from meeting his Father, Chris had a fresh determination. He could feel something new, something big, was on the horizon. And he was right; Standing one day outside the San Francisco General Hospital, a bright red Ferrari pulled up, and from it emerged a well-dressed man. Intrigued at what career could produce such wealth, Chris approached the man to find out. The man spoke one word that would seal Gardner's determination forever: Stockbroker.
That Stockbroker was a man called Bob Bridges. He offered to introduce Chris to the financial world, an invitation Chris accepted without hesitation. Bridges set up meetings for him and introduced him to high-flying firms such as Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney, and Pain Webber. For two months solid, he worked hard to learn everything he could. His salesman job, he was quickly left behind in the wake of cancelled meetings and unpaid parking fines. Then the call came he'd been praying for, an offer into the training program at E.F Hutton. Now he was free of his salesman job; he could focus on building a new career as a Stockbroker. The big money he always dreamed about felt closer than ever. But Chris was about to be brought to his knees once again. When he turned up to begin his new position, he discovered that his hiring manager had been fired, and the new job he dreamed of was no longer a reality. Chris's life was about to spiral out of control in a way unimaginable.
At home, things with Jackie were terrible. She tried to leave him one day, but Chris chased after her; in the panic, she slipped and fell into some bushes. The Police witnessed the incident. They arrested Chris and threw him in jail for ten days, not for assault; he wasn't guilty of that but for his unpaid parking fines.
After ten long days, Chris returned home to find the apartment empty. Jackie and his son were gone. What had Chris to do to get a break? Left once again with nothing, he dusted off his old suit and went looking for an opportunity, which Chris found in an unpaid job at Dean Witter Reynolds. With little or no money coming in, Chris struggled to make ends meet, but that didn't stop him from working long unpaid hours. But it paid off because he landed a full-time position with them. The money offered was small but with big prospects. On that salary, however, the only place he could afford to live was a flophouse.
His situation got even more complicated when Jackie handed him sole custody of his son, Chris Jr. But what else could he do? He could hardly refuse. He would have to make it work for his and his son's future. But there was a problem; the flophouse didn't accept children. This pushed Chris and his son onto the streets, unable to afford a place to rent. Still having to hold down his job, Chris found himself having to find daycare for his son, feed him in the evening in soup kitchens and sleep wherever he could find safe at night. No one at his office even knew he was homeless. He never told a soul.
For Chris, it seems that when things couldn't get any worse, it would. Anybody else by this stage would have given up, but Chris never did. He kept going and fighting until things finally started going his way.
A Reverend Williams offered him and his son a place in the church shelter. Although, for women, the Reverend's kindness out-stripped the rules. The Reverend's helping hand gave Chris the much-needed time to raise the money to rent an apartment, which he did.
The scene was now set for Chris to excel to heights beyond expectations. He had successfully manoeuvred all the pieces of his life into the correct alignment. Now, for Chris, the sky was the limit.
In 1987, he set up Gardner Rich & Co. With burning passion and his trademark drive, he built it up to the point where he could sell his share in a multi-million dollar deal. You'd think now, finally, he could relax, sit back and enjoy his hard-earned money, but not Chris.
He quickly founded Christopher Gardner International Holdings, opening offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. The very streets that he was homeless on. And he gave back to those streets by creating low-income housing and grants so people could get on their feet and have a shot at life. For himself, well, he bought a well-deserved red Ferreira—good for you, Chris, we say.
With a now estimated fortune of 60 million, the promise Chris Gardner made himself and his son on that cold San Francisco Street was fulfilled.
Sources
https://selfmade.by/blogs/magazine/chris-gardner-went-from-homeless-to-a-millionaire https://pofhblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/28/characterisation-uncle-henry/ https://www.goalcast.com/chris-gardner/ https://brightside.me/articles/the-story-of-chris-gardner-the-man-behind-the-pursuit-ofhappyness-796740/ https://businesschronicler.com/business-bios/chris-gardner-bio/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Gardner
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