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Pursuing Happiness: Day 26: Cherokee Nation ? Tahlequah, OK

Posted: Oct 3rd 2014 By: Pursuinghappiness-documentary.blogspot.com

Editor's Note: Brad Eubanks in the real name of professional wrestler Fuel

The adventure, part deux begins!

LAX to OKC

Yesterday evening, Adam and I flew from LAX to OKC ? a new state for both of us. Needless to say, we hadn?t even reached baggage claim at Will Rogers Airport before I burst into song:

OOOOOOOOOOOKlahoma where the wind comes sweepin? down the plain!

I am positive I am not the first person to arrive in Oklahoma singing that song, but I would enter myself into the ?most enthusiastic? contest and expect a podium finish.

Our host in Oklahoma is my friend from middle and high school, Erin, who moved to OKC a year and a half ago after finding a great opportunity to work at a hospital and cancer center. She and her roommates gladly welcomed us into their home for two nights and Adam and I were pleased to find some four legged friends as well:

We rose early after an intense late night bonding session with Bear. In a rare oversight by the usually brilliant and resourceful Pursuing Happiness planner, our first day of filming was in Tahlequah, which is 3 hours Northeast of Oklahoma City - or only 45 minutes outside of Tulsa? Perhaps a flight into Tulsa would have made more sense, but the 3 hour drive did give us the opportunity to enjoy the musical stylings of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Do your realize that Surrey With the Fringe On Top is a song about a man bragging about his ?car? in order to impress a lady? Adam and I were quickly realized this Oklahoma! staple was a precursor to half a century's worth of dude's singing about their whips in order to get tail, for example:

1940s ? Surrey with a Fringe on Top
1950s- Pink Cadillac
1960s ? Little Deuce Coupe
1970s ? Low Rider
1980s ? Little Red Corvette (to be fair, this song isn?t necessarily about a Corvette, but I?ll leave curious minds to their own devices to figure out what Prince was singing about)
1990s ? The decade where Shania Twain famously sang ?Ok, so you?ve got a car?. That don?t impress me much?. Did this groundbreaking statement forever change the course of braggadocio men?

No

2000s ? Chevy Ridin High
2010s ? Bugatti or Beamer, Benz, orBentley or every other hip-hop song

Cherokee Nation

In keeping with our mission to capture as many different cultures that make up America, I reached out to a number of Native tribes across Oklahoma and eventually heard back from Julie Hubbard at The Cherokee Nation. Julie is in charge of public relations so she was kind enough to put together a list of a number of people in Tahlequah whom she thought were particularly happy.

The first person on her list received unanimous approval from his co-workers when they were asked if he was the happiest person who worked at the Cherokee Nation: Brad Eubanks.

It was immediately apparent that Brad was an exceptionally happy guy: the way he walks is more than enough to tell you that a big ball of energy and happiness is coming your way. I was able to pick him out of a crowd from 30 feet away ? I didn?t need Julie to confirm this was Brad.

He didn?t seem to know the ?secret? to what made him happy, all he could tell us was that he loved helping people. ?I always put others first and ask myself what can I do to help the person in front of me, be that provide them with my own services or get them in front of the necessary person.? Brad kept returning to the fact that he inherently feels the need to put others first as his only guess as to what makes him happy, ?I can worry about myself later ? I know how to take care of me ? so I?m always concerned with helping others, first.?

Brad wouldn?t be a model airplane passenger if the oxygen masks fell from the compartment overhead.

Luckily for us, we didn?t need Brad to give us much insight into what his ?secret? was because every person who passed by stopped to tell us that ?yes, Brad is without a doubt the happiest person I know.? Pursuing Happiness could be a silent film and you?d know this guy was a happy dude, just from the way he carries himself.

A few minutes into talking with Brad, Julie interrupted to hand him a folder piece of paper ?Have Brad tell you about this!? He opened it up, chuckled, and then flipped it towards the camera: it was a flyer announcing an upcoming wrestling tournament, featuring The Man They Call Fuel.

?Oh yeah, haha, that?s me.? Brad said with the same matter of fact tone you'd use to tell someone you drove a Subaru.

?Is this real wrestling, or fake wrestling? Adam asked, reminding me how crushed I was when I learned that WCW was scripted.

?We?re entertainers. We do it for the fans. I love being able to go in there and put on a great show. When people come, they can forget their troubles and their work and just have a great time. I always want to give people a great show.?

This pretty much answered Adam?s question, but more importantly, it also answered the original question of ?what makes you so happy??

I think we also stumbled on the answer to this question in Hershey, PA, "One is only happy in proportions as he makes others feel happy" - M.S. Hershey

As Brad was giving us a tour of the complex and telling us more about The Man They Call Fuel, we met a man they call Wildcat. Brad introduced us to Tommy Wildcat as his greatest influence at work. ?Tommy is our cultural historian of sorts ? he?s always teaching me about our heritage.?

Tommy was quiet at first. I assumed he was camera shy and would be willing to offer up a few phrases in Cherokee and a brief history of the people and nation. ?You know, I could talk about this stuff all day? Tommy warned, which I initially took as a joke because he was so reserved, but as soon as we started asking him about the Cherokee history, he became a different person.

We spent the next few hours with Tommy. If Brad unanimously won the happiest employee award than Tommy unanimously won the most beloved and knowledgeable award; he has an Encyclopedic knowledge of his people?s history and an abundance of love for that history, his elders, and the future of the Cherokee people.

We accompanied him to an immersion school, where ?No English? signs are posted to each door. Tommy expressed how important it is that the Cherokee language be kept alive, and that it?s crucial to teach younger generations because ?The Cherokee Nation is always evolving, both in the way that any culture changes, and also in order to co-exist with the greater American culture that surrounds us.?

It seems that everyone who works a the Cherokee Nation Complex has a secret alter ego: Brad?s was The Man They Call Fuel and, as we were standing in the hallway listening to beautiful native American flute music being played overhead, we learned that Tommy Wildcat is a world-renown Cherokee Flutist whose music we were enjoying.

If you?ve heard recorded Cherokee Flute before, chances are it was Tommy playing.

He brought us to the gift shop and treated us to a song:

Before saying goodbye (Tommy had to teach class) we all went to a local Mexican Restaurant. He greeted the staff as if they were old friends ? catching up, joking, and just generally being familiar with everyone. I remarked that Tommy seemed to be friends with and take a deep interest in every person he meets. ?Oh yeah, I just love people. You know, the reason it took me so long to get ready before we left for lunch is because I had to walk to my office to get a book and on the way, everyone wanted to say hi and all the women I work with wanted to give me hugs.?

It was becoming clear that community, which derived from shared history, was an important aspect of Cherokee life.

Reaching out to Julie was a great move because she had planned a wonderful day for us. It?s always difficult to explain the project to people and expect them to provide good results, especially since we?re not necessarily looking for the happiest person in America; how do you even quantify that? There are so many flavors of happy that it would be impossible.

This is perhaps why some of the best people we?ve met during this project have been by complete accident. Such was the case with Jennifer, a video editor at the Cherokee Nation:

We were in her office speaking with another person when she interrupted us in order to offer some thoughts on the project. Apparently she had heard about our film the day before (Julie had alerted the staff to our presence) and had been thinking a bit about her own struggles and recent discoveries. Jennifer had been diagnosed with Lupus, a skin conditioned which affected her face (though we truly never would have known unless she told us). She had been struggling for a long time to feel beautiful in her skin, telling us how she?s always covering up, wearing bangs, doctoring her photos, etc. all in an effort to feel okay about how she looks.

She wanted to tell us not about herself though, but about a young woman whom she had recently met who was also ?suffering? from Lupus. ?Her name is Whitney and she has completely changed my life? she said, taking out her phone to pull up Whitney?s Facebook page. ?Just look at her profile picture; she?s not afraid to cover up. She completely embraces how she looks. She tells me ?I make Lupus look good?? Jennifer began to tear up just thinking about the courage this young woman exuded. Whitney had clearly made a huge impact on the way Jennifer felt about her condition - she gave her hope.

Adam and I took a seat next to her and before we knew it, two hours had gone by. Jennifer would probably not be most people?s candidate for ?the happiest person in America?, but we?re not looking to quantify, judge, or rank people ? we?re just out to capture all the different flavors, and I?m so happy we ended up in the editing room where Jennifer works, because although she often tears up and must stop herself in order to collect her thoughts, Jennifer is a very specific and crucial flavor: she?s an emotionally deep and connected person. She?s not the Pollyannaish character who lights up the room with their overbearing energy, she?s the type that if you stop to talk to her for a few minutes (or in our case, a few hours) you feel connected and safe.

I was amazed at how honest and open Jennifer was with us. It takes a lot of courage to talk about your fears. It takes even more courage to talk about your fears about how you look to two strangers pointing cameras at you. She'll probably be the last to admit or even recognize that she;s just as courageous as her new idol, Whitney, but I think her openness speaks volumes about her character.

We discussed plenty of other things with Jennifer, including her children. I couldn't not ask to meet her two kids who were at home that evening (the others were away), ?And if the answer?s yes? Adam added, ?you can?t alert them that we?re coming!?

So off we went, following Jennifer to her home where her two youngest awaited their mother, unaware that a film crew was about to barge in.

We had a really wonderful time with her son and daughter (whose names I cannot spell, and therefore will not try). Her son, who is 13 (a notoriously terrible age for boys and anyone who is forced to come in contact with them) could not have been more respectful or charming. When we arrived, he was taking care of his younger sister and finishing up chores. You know that clich? scene in films where the dad leaves the family for whatever reason and says to his young son ?looks like you?re the man of the house now?? well I?m not sure if this happened or not, but he certainly seemed to embrace this role.

We hung out for a few minutes, getting a tour and talking to the kids about their lives. At one point, Adam gave a mini bass lessons to Uriah, which apparently really meant a lot to them:

While Adam and I were talking to the kids, Jennifer left the room for a moment and reappeared wielding a handmade hand-drum. ?Well you?ve got to play for us? Adam coaxed, but Jennifer was hesitant, ?I only play this when I?m praying?. This was not a toy to be banged while her son played the bassline to Seven Nation Army ? this was a highly personal and spiritual item. It was something that ?is covered in a lot of tears.?

Eventually though, Jennifer agreed to see us off with a song. She steadily beat the drum and sang a prayer, that was either in Cherokee or just pitched chants. Either way, it was beautiful and clearly filled with a lot of emotion.

Our time with Jennifer and her family was a nice reminder that our pursuit of happiness is not just a pursuit of different types of people who are all happy, it?s also a pursuit of different types of happiness.