Blind Side...

Keith and I went to the movies this afternoon.  Something we do maybe 4 or 5 times a year.  He is a big movie fan...me, not so much.  I'd seen trailers for this movie and it struck me as a movie I would like to see.  I can't remember the last movie I saw...although it was probably sometime in late August.  Like I said...Keith is a big movie fan...me, not so much. 

For one thing, when I watch a movie it seems to get stuck in my head and I keep mulling it over and over and over.  I've been mulling this movie for the past few hours. 

The movie is based on the real life story of Ravens tackle Michael Oher and the Tuohy family.  He was a homeless teenager, son of a crack addicted mother, from the inner city Memphis projects. Through a series of unlikely events, he ended up at an affluent Christian school where, through another series of unlikely events, he was befriended by and taken in by the Tuohy's.  It changed his life forever.

Michael is one of thousands and thousands of young black men born into similar circumstances.  Young men whose lives seem doomed before they even begin. So many of them...too many of them to help.

It reminded me of the Starfish Story that I posted a while back on this blog

A Zen monk was seen by his disciple by the sea, where the tide had washed ashore hundreds of starfish. It was clear that they would soon die from exposure. The monk was tossing the starfish, one at a time, back into the sea, in a slow and meditative manner.

"Why are you bothering?" The disciple asked the monk. The young disciple looked at the large number of starfish that were succumbing. "It won't make any difference"

The monk stopped for a moment, and looked down at the starfish in his hand. "It will to this one," he replied, as he tossed it into the sea.