The White Tiger is a prolific film chocked full of social commentary.

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00:06

Good evening and welcome to my humble podcast abode. I am Coco Griot, just a fifty-something who finds pleasure in talking about life, love, and a bevy of other topics. This show is a little different for me because I'm actually going to share something from a movie/book, and these are basically quotes that impacted me. I'm doing this because I feel like this movie was super prolific and impacted me in ways that are difficult to describe. When my brother mentioned that I should see the film The White Tiger, I put it off for a little bit because I just really didn't know what the film had to offer. I sincerely hate that I did that. This movie which is adapted from a book of the same name is riveting The inequities between rich and poor are highlighted on the screen in ways that are difficult to digest. I have some quotes from the book that I'm going to share with you tonight that I feel were incredibly impactful.

1:06

The first quote, I'm going to share with you is the dream of the rich and the dreams of the poor, they never overlap, do they? See the poor dream all their lives of having enough food to eat, and looking like the rich. And what do the rich dream of? Losing weight and looking like the poor. I relate this to something my mom used to always say about how we are never satisfied in life, we can always find things that are unpleasant about our lives, even though we can be incredibly blessed. Now I'm not diminishing the plight of the poor in any way. I'm speaking to the people who have resources and are never satisfied with what they have, Unfortunately, we live in a nation that attacks the poor at every return. There seems to be this notion that poverty is a crime. You can look at decisions made in my local area regarding banning people who are experiencing homelessness, from camping. It was an unpleasant reminder for the people who could do something about it. They didn't want to see people living out in the open, it is a constant reminder of societal failures.

2:14

Another quote from the movie that was striking to me is the story of a poor man's life is written on his body in a sharp pen. The images of people who are malnourished and do not have adequate health care are painful to see. This is the reality that exists in this country. We don't have to look at another continent to see suffering, and people who are experiencing starvation. There are areas in America where people live in abject poverty. Some of the major areas that come to mind are cities in my state, that you might think of as concentrations of fabulous wealth like Houston or Dallas. 19.7% of people in Houston live below the poverty level, 17.5% of people in Dallas, live below the poverty level. Dallas has the most billionaires of any city in Texas. There are 18 in all. Texas has 56 billionaires, I really gained an awareness of how much money that is when I learned about how long it would take to count to 1 billion compared to counting to 1 million. At the rate of one number per second, it would take about 11 days to count to 1 million. On the other hand, counting to a billion could take anywhere from 32 to 60 years. Why is anyone starving in this country when there's so much? Well, the inequity is heartbreaking to witness. Before I move on to the last quote, I want to highlight from the light white tiger, I'm going to share information about tonight's sponsor.

3:48

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4:42

So the final quote from the White Tiger is, I am not an original thinker, but I am an original listener. This is a striking quote because it explains how the main character is able to shape his thoughts. He listens to different conversations and learns all he can from them. He may have lost the opportunity to obtain a formal education, but by educating himself through listening, he really gained a powerful tool. That kind of cut down the gulf between the bridge of lack of knowledge to greater understanding. If the main character had sulked over not being able to attend school, instead of finding other ways to learn information, his fate would have been very different. How many of us have the fortitude to stare disappointment in the face, and seek out a plan B? I can recall countless times in my life where I spent so much time grieving over missed opportunities that I did not see plausible alternatives that were staring me right in the face.

5:48

Thank you for donating your precious time this evening to listen to my thoughts about the White Tiger. As always, I wish you good health, good fortune, And good night, Cocoa Griot out.