Next, a piece from The Christian Science Monitor (http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2011/0810/The-He...) came across my desk, with a summary of mixed reviews from papers across the country. There's nothing like a little controversy to shake things up! After reading this piece I got interested in seeing the movie again.

Then when one of my daughters called and told me that she loved the movie and especially loved what it seemed to do to people in the audience, my curiosity peaked. She reported how they clapped at the end, and she went on to describe the scene she and her husband witnessed of two men and their middle- school-aged boy, who'd lingered in their seats after the movie and discussed what went on during the civil rights movement. That did it for me. I checked the movie schedule and headed out the door with my husband. Oh... and grabbed a few tissues, just in case.

I'm glad we went. We both thought it was excellent. Perfect? No. But perfectly valuable? Yes. And we needed my handful of tissues. The Help hurts, because it helps us to see and to feel the crime and burden of racism on many levels. For the purpose of my blog, which is in the category of overcoming child abuse, I ask: Can anyone see that movie and remain blind to the fact that through racism our society abuses children? I have my doubts.

There's a wonderfully useful book that if I had my wish would be used in schools and book clubs across the land, called Talking About Race: A Workbook About White People Fostering Racial Equality in Their Lives (www.cdd.com). Noted historian and author of A People's History of the United States, the late Howard Zinn, described it as "...so personal it takes the subject out of the realm of academic discussion and confronts readers with the realities of their own thoughts, their own experiences..." (http://www.ltar.biz/praise.htm)

In my opinion, the movie The Help succeeds in that respect as well. And since we must examine the realities of our own thoughts and experiences if we're going to overcome the forces of racism and the child abuse it perpetuates, I'm grateful for another movie that can help us to do so.