The Blind Side: Lessons in Courage and Honor

An inspiring movie and book, it’s the story of Michael Oher, a kid who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. But through happenstance, ends up being adopted by the wealthy Tuohy family who help him attain the education & opportunity to follow his dreams. It’s an incredible movie. The mother, Leigh Anne Tuohy played by Sandra Bullock, is a force of nature.  

There is a scene when he is writing his last essay to get him his important grade to pass & he decides to write about Lord Tennyson's poem:

“Charge of the Light Brigade.: There’s is not to reason why. There's is but to do or die. Into the Valley of Death rode the 600.”

“Courage is a hard thing to figure. You can have courage based on a dumb idea or mistake. But you are not supposed to question adults, your coach or your teacher because they make the rules. Maybe they know best, maybe they don’t. It all depends on who you are and where you come from. 

That is why courage is tricky. Should you always do what others tell you to do? Sometimes you don’t even know why you are doing something. I mean any fool can have courage. But honor, that is the real reason you do something or you don’t.  It’s who you are or maybe who you want to be. 

If you die trying to do something important then you have both honor and courage. And that’s pretty good. I think that’s what the writer was saying: that you should hope for courage and try for honor. And maybe pray that the people telling you what to do have some too.”

That’s pretty good stuff. And it’s a wonderful American story. Highly recommend the movie. It shows  how one person can absolutely, positively change the trajectory of someone’s life. This should be an inspiration for us all.