The Butler a movie well worth seeing

I went to see the movie, The Butler, with my sister and niece as it was my niece’s last night here in Bermuda before she heads back home to Delaware and boy am I glad I did. Wow. I am almost speechless after seeing that movie. I didn’t expect to be so moved by it. So affected by it. To see just how far we all have come as a civilization over the span of the movie is staggering.

The movie began with a black family picking cotton on a plantation and ended with a black family going into the White House as the first family of the United States. A black slave to a black president in a little over a hundred years is meteoric.  And we as a human race should be proud of all those who risked their lives out in the open, those who did what they had to do silently in the background, and those who died in their push to bring segregation to an end.

There are many who have walked before us who have paved the way for each of us to be in the position that we are in today. Some more passively than others but sometimes that passiveness is as strong if not stronger than the aggressor. But each having their place in our history – in the way we are today. In the way we treat each other today.

What I gleaned from this movie is how each one of us has the capability to change the perspective of others not by our words but by our actions. How we can put a human face to an otherwise nameless and faceless situation. How those who look down on the black men and women who have endured much to pave the way for others. How some of the pioneering blacks had to wear two faces as depicted in the movie such that others may have a seat at the table.

To have a son understand his father and a father understand his son. With both seeking forgiveness from the other due to ignorance on behalf of each other. How both understood at the end that they were both doing the best they could based on the experiences they had ever had.

I am still in awe of where we have come from as a human race. Even though I know we still have a long way to go to break down stereotypes that are still prevalent today but I walked out of that movie feeling great hope for our human race because we are resilient creatures. Here to learn lessons from each other. To teach each other about each other so we can break down the ignorance of each other.

I highly recommend the movie, The Butler, to anyone who wants to see what forgiveness, tolerance and acceptance can do for us as human beings. Showing how true Dr. Kind’s quote, Darkness can not drive out darkness; only light can do that”, truly is. The only way we can take darkness out of our world is to shine our light as brightly as we can and to be the change we want to see.