TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2014
The Other Side of The Mountain
I remember when this movie came out--The Other Side of The Mountain--is an inspirational film. I watched it yesterday--It gave me a new perspective and I wanted to blog about it. Suppose you do not know about this movie. In that case, the basic story is Jill loves snow; she loves skiing. Her goal is to be an Olympic downhill skier; she's particularly good at what she does. She puts much effort into practicing and finally achieving an Olympic trainer to help her make the finals into her goal.
During the movie, her best friend gets a Polio diagnosis and is told she will not walk again in her life. Jill is devastated but so reassuring and loving, showing compassion every step of her friend's journey.
Skip to Alta Utah, the final race for her to be on the Olympic team. Jill is the favorite to win; her coach, mom & dad, and all of America are hoping, cheering, and waiting to see her time as she crosses the finish line. With encouragement from her coach, she takes off down the hill; she loses her balance and, spinning out of control, falls to the other side of the mountain. Jill broke her neck; as the doctor told her parents, they were expecting him to tell them she would need some therapy but would be up and going soon when the doctor said it would be a miracle if she lived.
After months and months of therapy, she is still alive, in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the neck down. Still, Jill continues to tell her family and the media she will ski again; she has the most beautiful smile and is optimistic. Her friend with polio comes to the hospital to visit; Jill is ecstatic to see her come into her room on crutches--she squeals with delight-- "Look at you, you're walking" they laugh and visit for a while; all Jill can talk about is when she skis again, her friend looks at her and says "Be real, you are never going to walk again, your paralyzed, you need to start finding a new way to live, a way to accept what you've been given, your journey is not to ski again" then she continues on to tell her she would love for her to get out of that hospital, go see the bald children battling cancer, visit the soldiers coming home with no legs or arms, their lives have blown away--be grateful for what you do have, and what you can do--then make the best of it.
This was not the most emotional part of the movie, but it was tears running down my cheeks, I know I didn't get the quotes precisely correct, but this is how I understood it. There is always someone going through something worse; the life you are living should be lived being grateful and making a difference to someone else; we all can find some strength, even if it's baby steps, right now, this is the right time, and you are the only one who can decide how you will amaze not only others but yourself with what YOU CAN DO.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Tell me what you think