The Kings Speech

So I just watched this movie, "The Kings Speech," and was quite impressed. I thought it was going to be kind of slow and that it wouldn't add up to all the hype it received, but I was pleasantly surprised.

It's was one of those movies that holds significance to me in certain ways (no, I've never had to deal with stammering or stuttering) and maybe that's why I liked it as much as I did. But there were specifically two one-liners that stuck out to me. To give a little background, the Duke of York becomes King George VI and has a very difficult time speaking clearly because he stammers and stutters. He finds help from a man, Dr. Lionel, who coaches him through his impairment. At one point in the movie during a conversation Lionel and King George were having he reveals that he has struggled with this stammering problem since he was about 5 years old. As the conversation progresses, Lionel tells him, "You don't have to be afraid of what you were when you were five."


In another scene toward the end of the movie, Lionel is trying to get the King to work on his big speech (the one in which he accepts the throne and all that jazz) but the King is getting frustrated and does not want to try. Lionel sits on the throne which is extremely significant. The King turns around and begins yelling at him because it is completely inappropriate for him to be sitting in this "sacred" place. Lionel pesters the King with question after question, only making his temper flare more rapidly when Lionel yells, "Well why does it matter?!" and the King replies with, "BECAUSE I HAVE A VOICE!" That was the point that Lionel was trying to get across all along.

So...with that jumbled mess of explanation, basically all I wanted to say was, "You don't have to be afraid of what you were when you were five" and "I HAVE A VOICE!" Fears do not stay and cripple, I have a voice, and what I have to say is significant.

Lena Horne Quote

"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it."

-Lena Horne

I saw this quote as I was watching the Oscars this year, random place to find this quote that stuck with me but here it is. At first I didn't agree with it, but after some time and journaling and thinking...it's more true to me now than it was before. My perspective is shifting and I find truth in this quote. A load is just a load until it's breaking your back and you can't stand up. I'm learning (very slowly, that's for sure) that those you trust can help carry the load with you and they can even take parts of it for you and hold onto it for a little while. It's a very difficult thing that I am learning, after years of being "trained" one way, transformation doesn't happen over night. It may not be easy or fun or enjoyable, in fact, it's not really any of those things. But it does happen.

Concert Silence

So, this random thought popped into my head over the weekend as I was at a concert in Ann Arbor with a few friends of mine. Before the concert started, people are mingling, getting drinks, etc. and I'm just sitting and watching people, evesdropping on the conversation behind me when I begin to notice that several people have their phone out to text, or their ipod out or some other form of technology. While watching these people, I notice that most of them aren't talking to their friend sitting next to them, instead they are engrossed in whatever is on the screen they put in front of their face.

Now, I may be wrong, but 10 years ago I don't think this sort of thing would have been happening as much. Even 5 years ago maybe. Made me think ahead a little...10 years from now, will the time between the doors opening and a concert starting become, silent? Will there be quiet people with screens in their faces, ear buds in their ears and little to no conversation at all? The thought struck me and if that day ever comes, where I go to a concert or some other form of live entertainment and no one is speaking to one another...I will be so sad. It seems foreign to me now, but I wonder if in 10+ years it will just become "the way things are."