Big Mike - I

June 14, 2010

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< p> Last weekend I went to the cinema to watch the movie "The blind side". I was profoundly impressed in more than one way by this film. < /p> < p> The story of Michael Oher seems to be at first sight a male version of "Cinderella's fairy tale", but it isn't. It really isn't. < /p> < p> This story is a wonderfully true one. < /p> < p> At first the title impressed me "The Blind Side" which was chosen referred to football, a game in which the "blind side" of the quarterback must be protected at any cost. < /p> < p> For me this name has become a symbolic one, the film shows how many of us as a society cannot "see" the desperate lives of homeless children. We, no doubt, have a "blind side" in our understanding and sensibility. < /p> < p> Mike was homeless and virtually abandoned since his early childhood. Of course as most of abandoned children he never had parental love or guidance. < /p> < p> His mother Denise Oher who gave birth to thirteen children couldn't offer them neither loving nor economic support. She was a crack cocaine addict since before Mike was born, and she couldn't even take care of herself. As a result of this fact the kids were scattered about. < /p> < p> By the other side Mike's father, whose name was Michael Jerome Williams, never existed for him, and obviously he was never involved in Mike's upbringing, he was frequently in prison, and was murdered when Mike was a teenager. < /p> < p> At the age of seven, Mike was shipped between foster homes, often homeless living on the streets and begging for food. < /p> < p> During his &#&elementary education&#&'s period he repeated first and second grade. With nobody taking care for him or controlling his life Mike began changing schools. In his first nine years of schooling he attended 11 different institutions. Frequently he didn't assist to his classes, when he was about 10 apparently he didn't attend school at all during 18 months. < /p>