Monday, February 15, 2010

Hope For Courage and Try For Honor

Last night, after resting up from a long weekend with my family, I sat down and watched The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock and Quinton Aaron.  The Blind Side is a great movie based on a true story about Michael Ohar, who is taken in by a "well to do white family" in Tennessee.  During this time, he joins the school football team and later goes on to play for the Baltimore Ravens.  

I have seen this movie two times before, but still find myself cheering for Aaron's character and laughing at how protective Bullock's character, Leigh Anne Tuohy, gets when someone threatens her "son".  Every time I've seen this movie, I couldn't quite pinpoint why I thought this movie was so great.  Maybe its the fact that its a true story or that it shows that despite the fact that we live in a world that are so focused on themselves, there are still people who are willing to make a difference in the life of another individual without asking for some kind of recognition or repayment. 

About three quarters of the way through the movie, there is a line that we should all live by.  Michael is writing a paper on the poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade, and he says that "We should all hope for courage and try for honor".  Being insanely curious person that I am, I had to read this poem and was blown away.  The soldiers that the author was describing in the poem were extremely courageous and despite the fact that they knew that their leader had made a mistake, they went into battle anyway.  This made the army of 600 worthy of honor.  So powerful!

There were several times in the movie where Bullock's character asks her husband, Sean, (Tim McGraw) if they were doing the right thing.  Yes, she faced ridicule from her friends and family, but by the end, she knew that she had changed Michael's life as well as her own, her family's and others around them.  This story isn't saying that everyone should take in someone, but to reach out and help the people around you.  Whether its by making sure that needy person has a hot meal or donate to the charity campaigns around the world. 

Everyone has courage, so let us all follow Michael Ohars words and try for honor.