Lessons from possibly the coolest dude on planet earth
Keanu Reeves may be the most famous person in the world right now and he seems to be the only person who doesn’t know it. This is one of the many things that make him so damn cool.
Keanu has been a mainstay of the film industry for nearly 40 years, but more than that, he has been showing us what it is to be an all round good person as part of a high profile industry in a world where it is becoming so rare to find this.
So let’s take a look at what we can learn from Keanu.
We can be real life heroes
Did you hear about that time this plane had to make an emergency landingand Keanu Reeves was helping schedule your travel back home?
Sounds crazy right, but this is one of the random acts of everyday kindness that Keanu has been documented for over the years. In this recent captured event, Keanu didn’t use his access to get where he wanted asap. Instead he helped his fellow passengers make their way home and took the time to keep everyone’s spirits up — what a legend.
How many of us would act in the same way as Keanu in this situation? Not many I’m sure, so let’s take a steer from Keanu and look for the opportunity to help in those not so ideal situations.
Be kind and cool
Although there are many documented stories of Keanus acts of kindness, he’s an incredibly modest chap and has never spoken about any of these in public, he even shy’s away from any questions brought up around this in interviews.
Just take a read through some of these, including one where he buys an ice cream he doesn’t want just to get a receipt so he has a bit of paper to sign his autograph for a kid. I mean it doesn’t get much nicer than that does it?
It’s the little things and acts of kindness that count in the everyday. This is something we can all learn from Keanu, try to be kind to as many people as possible, whenever you can.
He is Neo and John Wick dammit, do I need to say anymore
I’m not even sure if I need to write anymore here.
Keanu has been part of and led two of the biggest movie franchises in recent times, entertaining all of us with alternative stories from the generic Hollywood norm that invoke different senses of emotion and thought provoking topics.
Just think about the multi-layered meanings in the Matrix trilogy, especially in today’s world where technology is an even bigger part of our lives than it was in the late 90’s.
He’s an artist who entertains and delves deeper into life’s bigger questions through his work, whether he’s aware of this or not. The lesson here is to stay curious and appreciate the kickass work of Keanu.
Be open with everyone, even when you don’t know what’s going on
Now I’m not aware of the Fortnite phenomenon much like Keanu, but when he was recognised by loads of kids due to his likeness to a character in the game and came warmly known as “Fortnite guy” by kids the world over, he embraced it.
Instead of behaving like some well known figures have in these situations, Keanu gave a smile and thanks to all these youngsters. Now that he’s discovered what Fortnite is, he’s even worked with the game’s development team to include his actual John Wick persona as a playable character.
He’s down with the kids and Fortnite, even if he was unaware of it
The Keanu lesson here? Always be kind, even when you have no idea what’s going on.
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Don’t be defined by the “norm”
Aside from his acting career, Keanu has many other adventures or side projects one might call them.
As I write this, he has been in a variety of big films over the past 12 months including the action packed John Wick Chapter 3, loved Pixar animation Toy Story 4 and recent Netflix comedy Always Be My Maybe. How anyone can accuse him of being a wooden actor is madness, just look at this highlight reel of him performing voice work for the most recent Toy Story film.
(Of course, there have been some less than impressive films — Replicas I’m looking at you! But we all have our bad times)
On top of his acting career, Keanu has turned his hand to directing, used his love of motorcycles to create the Arch custom motorcycle partnership and even has a book publishing business. Plus he has recently stepped into the world of video game acting by lending his talents to the CD Projekt Red game — Cyberpunk 2077.
If that’s not enough, he’s even been part of several bands utilising his skills on bass guitar.
The lesson to be learned here is don’t be limited to one thing, if you have the passion and creativity, share that through the channels that allow you to provide service and value to others.
Keanu has been a mystery to most of fame culture because he chooses his own path and is not defined by what is ‘expected’, so go and find your own path too.
Always try to give back
A theme that you’ve probably noticed in this semi life lesson/love letter piece about Keanu is that he’s a guy that likes to keep back. He has always been and remains insanely private about this, choosing not to seek any recognition for what is no doubt a continued effort to help his fellow humans.
A great lesson for us to all take on board, give back when we can to the people who need it most.
Be super respectful, always
Of everything you hear about the legend of Keanu Reeves, one thing that runs through everything is his respect for everyone.
This has once again come up in the media of late with his approach to treating everyone with equal respect no matter who they are.
As with other lessons in this piece, we can all do with showing each other more respect in the day to day.
But most important of all things, he’s a good human and that’s what counts.
If you’ve stuck with me this far, kudos to you and let me leave you with my main message:
Be more like Keanu — humble, kind, creative, giving and an all round good human.
We could do with many more of these in today’s world.
Long live the Keanu Reeves renaissance!
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