Monday, August 22, 2011

Date Night at the Movies

   Last night for our Date, Jeff and I went to see the movie called... THE HELP.
Stars Emma Stone as Skeeter, Viola Davis as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny-three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk. From their improbable alliance a remarkable sisterhood emerges, instilling all of them with the courage to transcend the lines that define them, and the realization that sometimes those lines are made to be crossed-even if it means bringing everyone in town face-to-face with the changing times. -- (C) DreamWorks
   It was an amazing movie and one that will really touch your heart. Now that is saying a lot for me. Those of you who know me, know that there aren't that many movies out there that I want to watch. I don't like immorality, violence, bad language, torture or someone being chased or threatened...I know you are probably laughing by now. It's true, my poor little spirit is offended by those things, and so there aren't many movies that we go to and that I would come out praising them. This one however made you think,feel and ask yourself would I ever treat any other human being like that? There was in the beginning more bad language than I wanted, that whole part could have been just as good without it. Actually it was in the first few minutes of the movie and I was wondering if Jeff and I were going to have to get up and leave. So yes, there was some  bad language, so please don't think I am promoting that, I am not. 
   I guess what touched me so deeply about this movie, is how people can change and their opinions can change, given the opportunity to see it from another's point of view. Of course I loved the strong women, who with courage and determination helped make big changes in the world, at quite a terrible cost personally...but they did it!
The racial conflict was real, I know because I lived in the midst of it.
   When I was a little girl, we lived in a mostly Black neighborhood. ( Now Black was not an offensive word at the time ) I got in fights many times after school for being White. I can't remember all of the situations, but I do remember spending a whole lot of time at my BEST FRIEND Kathy's house,  and that that was a safe place for me. She was like the sister I never had. She and I did everything together, much I have forgotten now, but I never forgot her kindness and the kindness of her family. What I didn't really think of was that our skin was different colors. She didn't seem to care that I had white skin and to be honest with you, I didn't think of her as a Black person, she was just my friend. When I thought of the Black kids that I was fighting with, I really just thought that they were cruel and mean...instead of their color. Many of our neighbors and friends were Black, but once you really become friends, color isn't an issue, and for that I was grateful.

   I guess I could relate on a SMALL scale what is was like to be different, and yet that was only for a few short years in my life, not for my whole!  Anyway, I left the movie thinking...how grateful I am for reminders like this movie, to never let us ever go back to that way of life or thinking! It made me determined to continue to stand up for what is right and true...no matter what the cost.
Good night dear friends!

"Judging someone... having never walked in their shoes, is like trying to shoot at a target blindfolded...it is important to see the whole picture"  ~ Lynn

"It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences."  ~ Audre Lorde

" Our greatest strength as a human race is our ability to acknowledge our differences, our greatest weakness is our failure to embrace them."  ~ Judith Henderson

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