Note: There is a family story, oft repeated by my mother: One of the grandchildren came in from the yard and told Mom that he was bored. She said are you bored or boring? The world doesn't owe you 24/7 action and entertainment. I tell you this story knowing that I wrote today's blog yesterday along with three pages of war stories and I cooked almost an entire Thanksgiving meal. Yes, I took a good nap to keep from being bored or boring.
Yesterday, I just happened to flip past a channel that was reviewing movies. They were showing scenes from the new animation/live action combination called Avatar, They raved over the scenes and the story line like it was the best thing since Gone With The Wind. Who doesn't want to see a paralyzed Veteran reborn as some kind of a genetic Mutant who turns rogue and saves a planet those money hungry Industrialists, using the Marines, trying to take over? Say What? Animation plus fantasy plus the age old story line about how bad we are, is a leading movie? That movie will not outdraw the movie with sparkling vampires that will stalk you. It will for $8.50 at the matinee take you to a world where no one had to pay any bills and miracles abound.
The second movie they reviewed is the new Sandra Bullock movie Blind Side which is a story about a real life family that takes in a black kid and helped him turn his life around. The story is real and should give us all a feeling that in spite of all the bad things people say about the rest of the world, there are pockets of hope about what some people are doing. To me, the real story isn't that this humongous Black kid became a professional Football player, but that a kid that was tested in the single digit achievement scores when he was 12, turned into a scholar that graduated in the top of his class at Mississippi State. After almost 30 years of reaching out and teaching kids, Barb will tell you that that is a real miracle. How many kids are there out there that with a little (Or in this case a private tutor 24/7) help can achieve more than they are now? I think most people have unlimited potential and it is our failure that we can't unlock it in everyone.
The movie Blind Side was given a "skip it" by both reviewers. I don't get it. I saw the same movie and came out a Democrat, do I dare say it a Liberal. (No, not really) I guess those guys already were liberal and didn't see the hard work it takes to succeed. I guess they didn't see the Memphis slums built in the 60's by the Johnson administration and the hell hole they turned into. I guess they think that no one needs to reach out to the kids more because we already gave. There is no amount of money capable of reaching people that have given up. The kids like the one's in the movie will continue to do/sell drugs and drink their 40's (Forty Oz. of Malt Liquor) until someone reaches out with the message that there is room for everyone in our society. The Housing projects turn into a Ghetto without hope. There is no army there holding them in but the hopelessness is stealing the energy right out of their lives. That was the message that I thought the Obama Administration was going to change and now we are still looking for ways to spend more money that they take in and it is a lot more of the same.
I Don't Get It!
MUD
A! MEN! Well said, MUD. There is nothing to add. I saw that same movie, and thought the same things.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the movie, but I read the Michael Lewis book. It's a great story, too.
ReplyDeleteOne hiccup in your post, though, Michael Oher went to Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi, not Mississippi State.
Plus, most folks do not recognize the difficulty of actually playing Division I sports and going to class, but Oher did make the honor roll in his Sophomore year and his Senior year and actually graduated with a degree in criminal justice.
I wondered if anyone knew the difference between Mississippi and State. They said he graduated cum laude in the movie. Sandra Bullock is hot enough in the movie to keep it from being some kind of a chick flick. MUD
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