Changing your stars

When I was a kid, I wanted to make a million dollars, have a big house with a garage full of fast cars, travel across the globe to exotic places I saw on TV, have a huge walk-in closet with the latest and greatest clothes, and I wanted to be an an important person. Yes, I wanted it all and the caricature life that I thought came with money and power.

Oh, I dreamed of other things too. Lower on the list, I wanted to help others. I wanted to be someone that others respected and enjoyed being around. I wanted to write my own book.

I came from humble beginnings, though, so money and wealth and the superficial things that come with it were tops on my list.

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A knight in shining armor

Of course, I got older and, hopefully, wiser. I learned that there are things more important than money. The idea became etched in stone for me when I stumbled across the 2001 movie, A Knights Tale, starring Heath Ledger as William Thatcher, a peasant squire who poses as a knight and competes in tournaments. In the movie, Thatcher grows up in the bad part of London. His father offers him as a servant to Sir Ecton, a knight, and encourages the boy to change his stars. He says “It’s all I can do for you, son. Now go change your stars and live a better life than I have.”

Like William Thatcher, I wanted to change my stars. 

Of course, we all want to change our stars in one way or another. We all want to win the Powerball or Mega Millions. We gamble on the “sure-thing.” The gross gaming revenue of the gambling industry in the U.S. reached a record $55 billion dollars in 2022. We can taste it. We all know exactly how we’d spend an extra $100 or if we became millionaires over night.

We all have a little bit of William Thatcher in us.

A rags to riches story

In my own little way, I like to think that I’ve changed my stars. Oh, I’m no millionaire, far from it. I have my up and down times. I still struggle. Our youngest son still has two years of college. When I count my blessings though, I find I’ve most certainly changed my stars.

Its took me much of my life to see that, yes, “changing your stars” takes some money, but it’s not about winning the lottery. It’s about changing your attitude. It’s finding friends. It’s finding someone to share your life. It’s looking for the good in others.

It’s substance over flash. It’s character and integrity. (At least that’s what changing your stars has meant for me.)

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Magic in the sky

I love the changing your stars scene in A Knight’s Tale, but my all time favorite scene in the movie has nothing to do with money and everything to do with honor. When Prince Edward sees Thatcher in the stocks and his friends defending him from the angry mob, he says, “Your men love you. If I knew nothing else about you, that would be enough, but you also tilt when you should withdraw and that is knightly too.”

He has him released and knights him with his given name “Sir William.”

It’s one scene in a silly movie, but it get’s me every single time. Life is about more than money and fame and status. It’s about how we live our lives. I want to live my life to the fullest. I want change my stars for the good.