giving without reservation
i ordered a documentary that i had heard about on some news program (nightline, 2020, one of them..) called “darius goes west”. i was so intrigued by this documentary because it was people who gave and loved this boy who has a form of muscular dystrophy that little boys get and won’t live past their early twenties. they become wheelchair bound around 10-12 and there presently isn’t a cure for it.
he wanted to get his wheelchair pimped on “pimp my ride” so i think it was 11 or 12 of his friends took him on a road trip across the country (from athens, ga to los angeles, ca and back) so he could experience the world before the disease takes his life. he never left his county prior to the trip, he got to see the ocean for the first time, see the grand canyon, go on a hot air balloon and so much more. they treated him as an equal not a sympathy case.
honestly i can’t give it any justice writing about it, i am at a loss for words. here’s the vehicle (not the trailer). and one last thing… for all twelve of my readers, i ask that you say a prayer or something for the cause and just for there to be more people like this in the world.
the heart
the heart
from my post today at lifeinapicture.com – i reposted my entry from lifeinapicture.com because this is how i felt today and wanted to include it on both blogs 
my painting
i was home sick today and the last movie i got from netflix was “p.s. i love you“, i wasn’t really wanting to watch it but i got tired of watching cnn after like 6 hours so i thought what the heck, i can always turn it off… right? so i put it in and initially i thought it was going to be a sappy movie and wasn’t in the mood for that, but as it got further in i was hooked. it was very creative and ending even surprised me, i highly recommend it. i cried a lot though but i cry watching kodak commercials, so that say much.
but the movie really made me think about how much of a wall i am really building around myself right now. i do think some friends have helped put up some bricks too in helping me want to isolate myself… but i really am at the point where i am shutting people out left and right and i need to bust out a sledgehammer and tear down some walls…
my picture of the day is a painting i did a couple years ago with the same thoughts in mind. i painted what i envisioned to be the wall we build around our hearts. at this point in the painting there is still hope to break down those walls, so i have to choose with path i want to go down…
movie recommendation: henry poole is here
henry poole is here
yesterday i had the privilege of going to see henry poole is here for work and i had read a lot of reviews on this movie and had planned on seeing it for a few days now. the reviews were positive and negative but in my eyes it was wonderful. it’s a great movie looking at spirituality and hope, i am not going to go in depth because you just need to see it yourself and see how it challenges you.
it amazes me that horrible big-budget movies that kill brain cells get mass distribution throughout our country when smaller, lower budget, thought-provoking movies hit few markets for a short amount of time. i appreciate movies like this that make you think.
music within
“many people die with their music still in them. why is this so? too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. before they know it, time runs out.” – oliver wendell holmes
this was quoted by a teacher at the beginning of the movie “music within“. as i mentioned before, i am not a huge movie person but when i like one, you’ll hear about it thanks to netflix i am able to keep up with documentaries, music dvds and based on true story type films. this one is a based on a true story of the man who is the main force behind the americans with disabilities act which eventually passed in 1990.
people with disabilities have always had a place in my heart, i think most of this comes from growing up with a first cousin who has cerebral palsy. he has emotions, he communicated in his own ways… he is a person and i think many people forget that about those less fortunate than us. while in junior high i was a teachers aide to the special ed class and those kids were so full of love and would light up when you said hi to them. it’s amazing how they have few dumb stresses like we overwhelm our lives with.
the movie documents the life of richard pimentel, who grew up poor and never had a stable home but was an amazing public speaker. when he didn’t get a scholarship, he joined the army and got sent to vietnam. there he lost his hearing, but he still did amazing things! he worked to get disabled vets jobs and then trained dozens of companies on hiring disabled people.
there was one scene in the movie that killed me, it’s shown in the preview below where they get kicked out of a restaurant because they were different. this breaks my heart because we are all created in the image of God and it is so frustrating we think that somehow we are better than others. because they don’t deserve that, no one deserves that.
here are some stats from the worldbank:
* 750 million people in the world are disabled, according to the world health organization (WHO)
* 80% of disabled people live in developing countries
* 10% of the population in poor countries is disabled
* 1 in every 10 children around the world copes with a disability
* only 2–3% of disabled children in poor countries go to school
i completely recommend this movie, it’s based on a true story and you get a tiny sense of what it would have been like for a disabled person before the americans with disabilities act. here’s the trailer.
a must see movie: lars and the real girl
this is lars introducing bianca to his brother and sister in law
if you ask any of my close friends they will tell you that i am absolutely not a movie person, but on the rare occasion that i love a movie i will recommend it to everyone. i have now had several hours to digest the movie lars and the real girl and as time progresses there is more and more that i like about it.
if you do not know the basic premise, lars (ryan gosling, pictured) buys a blow up doll and she becomes his girlfriend. he’s not a super perv or anything but completely sincere. it really makes one look at life and wonder what really is the lesser of two evils? and who are we to really judge what is right or wrong?
i don’t want to spoil the plot for anyone who has not seen it, so i won’t go too in depth. but i do believe that we are a judgemental society, when really in the end… all we need to do is love on eachother especially those who are hurting.
now go see the movie and you know what i mean by all that
