This past Thanksgiving, I missed the boat.
I forgot to write a post on this blog or any of my social media accounts to say what I was thankful for. I’m thankful for so many things of course. Maybe I did not deem it necessary to tell the world about my feelings at the time.
As the end of the year comes to a close, I believe it may be a good time to make up for that blunder.
A movie I watched recently inspired me to write this post.
Spotlight
The name of the movie was Spotlight.
The movie is based on a true story. It is the story of a team of reporters at the Boston Globe called Spotlight.
The Spotlight team uncovered rampant cases of pedophilia and sexual abuse in the Boston archdiocese in the 2000’s.
The movie was disturbing to say the least. As I watched the movie, I felt disgusted, angry, confused, and shocked.
Humans can be EVIL
I felt disgusted because the movie reminded me of how evil some of us humans can be at times.
Even some who are supposed to be our moral compasses, like the clergy in this case.
I was angry at the church and other leaders depicted in the movie. I was angry at them for knowing about such atrocities and doing everything they could to cover it up.
I felt confused at the number of people who knew about these incidents and did NOTHING to stop it.
Finally, I felt shocked to find out the scale of this problem. Growing up, I had heard here and there about some incidents of pedophilia in one or two regions of the world.
This problem was much bigger than I EVER could have imagined.
According to the movie, cases of such sexual abuse were reported in over 100 cities around the world.
These cases were reported against members of the clergy in most cases. For its part, The Boston Globe published over 600 stories of allegations of sexual abuse in 2002.
All 600 stories occurred in the Boston Archdiocese. Imagine how many more stories took place in the other 100 cities around the world. These are only the stories that came to light.
As I said earlier, I felt disgusted, angry, confused, & shocked during the movie.
I left that AMC theater feeling grateful and hopeful, however. This is what I do best. I have this uncanny ability to see the positive in the worst situations imaginable.
Somehow, despite the atrocities depicted in this movie, I felt thankful.
Why (who) I’m thankful (for)
So, here is what I’m thankful for in 2015 and always: THE REBELS. Yes. I am thankful for the rebels.
In a famous commercial from the 1990’s Steve Jobs called these kinds of people “…The crazy one. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes”.
Steve Jobs also said of such people that they “… they change things. They push the human race forward”.
I could not agree more. Rebels do change the world for the better in many situations.
In this movie, those rebels were the members of the Spotlight team. They were reporters who did not let the system dictate what they could or could not investigate.
They were a team of journalists who weren’t afraid to uncover and tell the truth.
Rebels are not perfect. These people often get in trouble at school because they can’t quite fit in.
Sometimes they get fired from the company they co-founded because they’re misunderstood.
Sometimes, they even get put in jail for trying to fight against injustices.
They can be annoying because they tend to question everything. Additionally, they’re never satisfied with the status quo.
But these rebels also “change things” as Steve Jobs said.
They “push the human race forward”. They create revolutionary tools that allow humans to be more connected.
They influence governments to change unjust laws. In this case, they shed light on a major issue in our society. Their investigation helped change the system for the better!
So, this coming year and always, join me in a cheers to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The different ones.
Those, who don’t always feel as though they belong. May you never lose your sense of wonder. May you never stop questioning the status quo. Most importantly, may you never stop pushing the human race forward.