Happiness is Winning an Oscar!

I watched the Academy Awards on Sunday nite and was, of course, THRILLED when Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture.  I loved the book (Q&A) and I wrote two posts about the movie back in December when I first saw it.

I had to stay up past my bedtime to watch them open the envelope , and I was happy to have lost the sleep.  When the movie was announced, pandemonium broke out in the corner of the Kodak theatre where the Slumdog cheering section was located.  The producer, so excited about the film’s nomination, had flown the entire cast from India to Hollywood for the event.

And why not?  At one point no studio wanted to pick up the movie, so it almost went straight to DVD.  This was a low-budget film cast with unknown actors and with a crew of indie film folks from England, India, and Australia.  No one associated with the film had “credentials” outside of the Producer and Director (both past Oscar winners).  So for most of them, this was a first (and probably once) in a lifetime thrill.

They all crowded onto the stage for the acceptance speech, and their excitement was infectious.

A.R. Rahman, who 15 minutes earlier had won Oscars for best score and best song, said the movie — set in the squalor of Mumbai’s slums — was about hope and optimism.  I thought he had one of the best lines of the evening, when he said, “All my life, I’ve had a choice of hate and love.  I chose love, and I’m here.”

In turbulent times like we live in today, movies remind us that people can experience horrible things and still endure, that underdogs sometimes do win, and that happy endings are still possible. 

An Exhortation

I recently read of a poll which asked, “do you believe that Americans today still respond to the call John F Kennedy made in his 1961 inaugural speech, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country’?”  23% said Yes, 70% said no.  Hmm.

In a few hours our new President will issue his own exhortation, a call to action for a new millennium.  The dictionary defines Exhortation as,a communication intended to urge or persuade the recipients to take some action.

What action will that be, I wonder?  How will I respond?  How will this country respond?  The problems facing our nation are far too large for one person, or one institution to address.  Yet if we are ALL willing to participate, amazing things are possible.

San Francisco composer (and Cleveland native) David Conte was so inspired by the closing paragraphs of Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on election nite that he pulled key phrases into a song that will have its world debut at today’s inauguration ceremony.  Many believe that this song, An Exhortation, captures the essence of Obama’s own call to action.

America, we have come so far.
We have seen so much.
But there is so much more to do.

Let us ask ourselves:
If our children should live to see
The next century
What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call.
This is our time
To reaffirm that fundamental truth
That out of many, we are one;
That while we breathe, we hope;
And where we are met with doubt,
We will respond with that timeless creed
That sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can.

The key word, here, is WE. Not I can, or They can.  We.  We are all in this together, and if we wait for someone else to save us, we will wait a long time.  If this new president can inspire people to participate and to actively become part of the solution, I believe anything is possible.

That is my hope, on Inauguration Day 2009.