The Blind Side

The story of Michael Ohre is shocking to many people. Michael Ohre has been an inspiration to me. He has overcome many different obstacles throughout his life and made something of himself. If it weren’t for the Tuohy family Michael may not have made it to where he is today. The movie “The Blind Side” and the ABC news story ‘The Blind Side’: How Michael Oher Made It, have a few similarities and differences. Also, my mother can relate to Michaels story as well. After interviewing my mom I found out information that relates to “The Blind Side” story and inspired me in many different ways.

After watching the movie “The Blind Side”, which is one of my favorite movies, I found Michael Ohre’ story to be an inspiration to me. I think that what the Tuohy family did was very brave and sincere. It took a brave women to do what Leigh Anne Tuohy did. Opening up her house to Michael when she knew nothing about him was very risky. For example, when Leigh Anne went out for lunch with her high life friends, the topic of Michael came up. The main concern was the color of his race and the question was “aren’t you scared with a colored man living in your house around your kids.” As soon as this was said Leigh Anne had enough will power to get up and walk away stating that they should be ashamed of themselves. Leigh Anne held her ground and never let people get to her about her situation with Michael moving into her house.
After reading the ABC news report on ‘The Blind Side’: How Michael Oher Made It, I realized there were differences and similarities between this article and the movie. One of which “ I would have dreams all the time about me playing in the NFL,” Michael stated. This may be true, but in the actual film I feel like it was shown in a way that Michael was athletic but football was not his main concern. In the movie, they showed Michael playing basketball. When Michael was brought to the football field, he did not know what he was doing. They showed his football career progress. Another difference between the article and the movie was when Michael stated that he went absent for 51 days from Westwood High School, and how he had been to 11 schools in nine years. This was not shown in the movie. In the movie it showed how he had got into Briarcrest Christian School, and how he had to work really hard. Luckily, one teacher in particular took real interest in Michael and reached out to help him.
  Relating to Michael Oher’s story, I interviewed my mom who can relate. I asked her a few questions about how her story was similar. She told me a story about when she was a little girl. Her mother, who is my grandma, took in her good friend’s daughter. My grandma’s friend was a single mother raising an 8 year old girl at the time. She had a drinking and drug addiction problem and her daughter being around her mother was not okay. I asked my mom how she felt once the little girl moved in and she responded with “at first I was uncomfortable and didn’t know how to react, but after a few days I opened myself up more to her.” This relates to the Tuohy family in the situation where they took in Michael. My mother told me that they only took the girl in for a few months. Once my grandma’s friend started looking out for herself, and got her life together, the little girl went back to her mom. I also asked my mom how she left once the girl left. “I was sad when she left. You get to know someone and you start to build a connection with them and then next thing you know, they are up and gone” my mother stated. She talked about how she became really close and treated the girl as if she was part of the family. She spoke about how my grandma doesn’t like to talk about the situation very much, and almost covers up the memories like they didn’t happen.
All though my mother’s experience was different than Michael Oher’s they do relate in a way. Both families took in a child to benefit them. In the end, it was worth it. Michael ended up living a dream, and the little girl who lived with my mother, was protected from seeing something she may not have wanted to see. It was beneficially for her as well as her mother. After reading about Michael Ohre’s journey, and hearing about my mother’s experience with the little girl they took in, makes me happy to know that there are people out there who do care.