The other night, I caught a bit of the Academy Awards. I turned it on just in time to see the award for best musical score. Well, I think that was the category. I absolutely loved Up! and I was pleased that its score won, but what I liked better was the artist's acceptance speech. He said that when he was nine years old, he found an 8mm camera in his dad's drawer and asked if he could have it. His dad said yes, and he began making movies. He told the audience that his parents never made him feel like the time he spent making movies was time wasted. He said that no one ever made him feel that way. But he also said that he knew that many kids don't get any kind of encouragement for their talents. He stood up there encouraging kids to use their talents and follow their dreams.
His speech brought me joy. It made my husband cry. For real. We have a little filmmaker at our house. Son2 is constantly dreaming up new stories he can tell in short films. He hears music and thinks about what kind of film it could go in and what might be happening at just that moment when the music plays. He astounds me. I didn't know anything about who I was or what I could do as a kid. I feel grateful that my sons seem to have some idea of what they love and what they can do well.
Well, I say that with a bit of a caveat. Because Son2 doesn't think this is a special talent, or a talent at all. He thinks anyone can make movies. He thinks it would be better if his hair was different (more like his brothers'), he was better looking, and he could play sports. There are times when he would gladly trade in his movie-making abilities for those other things. Fortunately, that's not an option. For the record, we think he's cute just the way he is, and we've never wished he could play sports well (except that it would make him feel better). Just a month ago I talked with him for over an hour about this very thing. He was beside himself. He wanted to be a different person. It was heartbreaking.
But on Monday morning we played that Academy Awards acceptance speech for him, and he smiled a certain kind of smile before he left the room...
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8 comments:
I was watching too and thinking of the same little artistic soul.... daydreaming about what is yet to come for my sweet little cuz.
Sweet. Love the last paragraph.
I loved that speech, too, and I just hope I will be able to help my little ones find whatever it is that they are good at, and encourage them, regardless of my own personal talents and interests.
I love this post, Nina.
Beautiful.
Nina...he is amazing. I cannot wait to see all the beauty and joy he will bring. And may I add...already is.
I love how you and your hubby nurture who he is and who God created him to be. Son2 is so blessed to have you both.
It was a great speech, wasn't it?
For me this is the best part of being parent -- watching out for those talents and nurturing them. I just wish that this kid would believe us. It seems the first boy took more than his fair share of the family confidence!
When our son was younger he loved to skateboard...and loved everything associated with it. He wanted to design his own skate shoes. He would draw them all the time. Once, he decided he would submit a skate shoe design to an actual company, Osiris. He drew several views of the shoe, wrote up a good description, and told them that he would be happy to accept a pair of those shoes as his only payment for the design. I think he was around 10 years old when he did this. He had every confidence they would love his design and he would see his shoes on the store shelves. I knew that was probably not going to happen, but I encouraged him, just the same, and wrote my own letter, asking the company to at least read his proposal and consider it. Nothing came of it, but I was proud of him for trying and for believing he could do it.
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