“Now, y’all would guess that more often than not, the highest paid player on an NFL team is the quarterback. And you’d be right. But what you probably don’t know is that more often than not, the second highest paid player is, thanks to Lawrence Taylor, a left tackle. Because, as every housewife knows, the first check you write is for the mortgage, but the second is for the insurance. The left tackle’s job is to protect the quarterback from what he can’t see coming. To protect his blind side.”
Sandra Bullock’s character (Leigh Anne Touhy) in the movie, Blindside
Hollywood is known for using a lot of creative liberty in many of their biopic movies that have been adapted to film. This is understandable 0f course. Nevertheless, that doesn’t stop movie goers from overlooking the fact that the script of what they’re watching being played out on the big screen is often loosely based.
The movie Blindside was released in 2009 and received a ton of praise. Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, and Quinton Aaron gave solid performances and the film was nominated for several prestigious awards. The movie, depicting a white middle-class family that brought in a poor black kid who was bottoming out in the foster care system, who would go on to realize a lifelong dream of becoming an NFL star, was one that was sure to leave movie goers teary eyed and feeling better about race relations in America. And given the global economic collapse that had recently occurred a year earlier, not to mention the ongoing war in Afghanistan, Americans were desperately searching for a positive distraction. So The Blindside was released at the perfect time.
That was nearly 15 years ago.
Over the past few months I’ve been carefully following the sad story that has emerged concerning former NFL player Michael Oher and the apparent estrangement that has since taken place between him and the family (the Touhys) who became his legal custodians after taking him in as a foster child (who are the subjects of the film). But it seems that the movie was more loosely based than anyone could imagine.
Oher, now 37, filed a lawsuit against Leigh Anne and Sean Touhy back in August alleging that they had never legally adopted him, but instead created a conservatorship that granted them legal authority to make business deals in his name. Furthermore, Oher claims that the Touhys exploited him to make millions of dollars for themselves and their natural children, while he himself received nothing. The legal battle between Oher and the Touhys still continues today.
I often think about how different my life would be if I somehow came into a lot of money. I could move out of my townhome, purchase a few acres of land, and build a comfortable home that offers some privacy. I could trade in my old cars for newer ones that don’t smell like dogs and the electronic windows work properly. I could get a bigger refrigerator that has a built-in ice maker and more room for storage. I could go to my mailbox without wondering which mysterious bill might be lurking in the dark today that’s going to drain my bank account. I could go to the gas pump and fuel up without being angry at Exxon, Shell, and Sunoco.
But then I think about how easy it would be for me to simply forget just how much the Lord has already blessed me, and convince myself that I am completely self-reliant and then start allowing my possessions to become the god of my life.
“He went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give to me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.” (Matthew 26:15)
Jesus said, “For what shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)
May we all be thankful for what we already have, and be eager to blindside others not with our greed, but with kindness and generosity. For what will it profit a man who refuses recognize that he himself has been blindsided by God’s grace?
Former Blackout Artist 