After reading this most touching and entertaining of NYTBSers and then seeing the stories of these women on the screen I feel as though I better understand that hope--that seemingly impossible dream--spoken of by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so many years ago.
Though, in truth, I do not fully understand the catalyst (if there is one) for The Help at this time. (That is to say, why now? Why this subject, at this time, to this American audience?)
You see, I have never witnessed real oppression. Aside from one stray rock aimed at my head by a mere school child, I have never felt persecution against my person for any reason, be it racial or cultural or social or economic or otherwise. I have never felt trapped by circumstances beyond my control to the point of physical anguish, nor have I felt the need to crush the spirit of another in order to assert my own identity. By all considerable standards I have led a blissful, conflict free existence for 23 years and counting. I have never had to face a group of angry individuals, mobilized and united against me or a cause I symbolize, nor have I felt the need to join a group and use whatever means necessary to make my voice heard.
For these reasons I doubt my opinions on matters like riots and Civil Rights (which, indeed, I was not even alive to witness, let alone experience first hand) or even the greater implication of watching this film are of great consequence...and yet, I feel compelled to add a few words in amongst those of Dr. King. For while I may have no experience with racism in the context of its portrayal in this beautiful film, I would hope that the original speaker of the "I Have A Dream" speech would not object to these additions:
that we would all live in a world and a society wherein people are not judged (and do not themselves judge) others by
skin color,
religion,
sexual predetermination,
level of attractiveness,
pant size,
quantity of income,
language spoken,
occupation,
degree of formal edification,
family background,
home country. or state. or town,
or any other factor that does not make a person who they are. Rather, I would hope and dream and pray, as Dr. King did, that all people might one day be loved for and judged by and counted as valuable because of "the content of their character."
Here's to hope. And to The Help. If you have not yet read or watched it, I would encourage you to do so.
