It has recently come to my attention that America loves sports! I mean they LOVE sports. That is either the first topic that comes up in most conversations or it’s second right after the weather, lol. It doesn’t matter who it is, total strangers, co-workers, or just friends and family. People are consumed with sports and play. Now I’ve always noticed this before, however not at the magnitude that I’m noticing it now. The reason for this observation is my latest movie, let’s see if you can figure it out. You already know don’t you? What gave it away? Was it the title “On Sport And Play?” Well if you guessed “Concussion” you are right on point, lol.

Concussion is a 2015 biographical sports medical drama based on the 2009 GQ expose Game Brain by Jeanne Marie laskas, and starring Will Smith as Dr Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian forensic pathologist who fought against efforts by the National Football League to suppress his research on brain damage suffered by professional football players.

The film opens with footage of football player Mike Webster (David Morse)of the Pittsburgh Steelers,  showing him in action during games, as well as the man speaking in a conference. in the present time, Mike is homeless and living in his car, suffering from dementia. Oh before I forget, WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Next scene is Dr. Bennet Omalu testifying in court over a murder case where he very mathematically shows how a man is innocent. Based on his research, he proves that the defendant was not the murderer. He does this in a very unorthodox way, he determines that the blood on the defendants hands was not that of the victim’s because the defendant is a hemophiliac and could not risk something for possibility of injury or death.

Bennet works at the coroner’s office. While doing his autopsies he has what seems to be an odd habit of speaking to the deceased so that he can get an idea of what killed them. His coworker Gracie has much respect for him, however the head of the department Danny (Mike O’Malley) antagonizes him at every turn. Jealousy makes people act so childish.

Webster visits Dr. Julian Bailes (Alec Baldwin) over his condition which is getting worse. In one scene Webster is visited by fellow football player Justin Strzelcyk (Matthew Willig), who is also suffering from similar condition. Webster is in so much pain and he is unable to sleep so what he does is tases himself so that he can fall asleep. He is later found dead. At the young age of 50!

The death of Mike Webster has the city in state of shock (pun intended).  Never mind the fact that their football hero was homeless! they seemed to be fine with that, however when he dies then it’s ” oh my God what happened?” or ” how could this happen to our hero?” Apparently people (fans) are not too loyal. We only think of our heroes when they are wowing us, then once their shine is gone our attention span goes right along with it, and we’re on to the next big thing. Mike Webster’s body is  brought in for Bennet to examine. He observes that Webster pulled out his teeth and superglued them back in. After an autopsy that does not answer what would make this person do the things he did, Dr. Omalu takes a look at Webster’s brain and discovers severe head trauma that led to his mental deterioration. He brings this to his supervisors attention. Omalu furthers his research by studying football videos, (since he knew nothing at all about the sport) and noticing the amount of times someone like Webster took serious blows to the head.

Next scene is Justin Strzelczyk (Matthew Willig) is seen ready to attack his wife, he tells her he keeps hearing voices telling him to kill her. She makes him leave the house for fear of him hurting her or the children. He drives off in a blind rage down the wrong side of the highway and crashes into a tank truck. He was only 36 years old. Then another football player Terry Long turns up dead…he committed suicide as well, he drank ANTIFREEZE!

Dr. Omalu examines them as well and concludes that the men suffered from CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). He presents his work to Dr. Steven Dekosky (Eddie Marsan) and Dr. Ron Hamilton (Stephen Moyer), who relunctantly agree with him. (Fear of losing their precious football game) Omalu shows them examples of how certain animals are made for this kind of head impact. The Gannet: a large bird, hunts fish by diving head first from a height of 98ft at speeds of 62 mph as they strike the water! why no head trauma? They have air sacs in their faces and chests under the skin which act like bubble wrap, cushioning the impact with the water. Why? Because that is how God designed them.The Woodpeckers can peck up to 20 times per second, or a total of 8,000-12,000 pecks per day and without ever getting a headache! Why? The bones in the woodpecker’s  skull keep its brain comfortable and avoids concussions, its hyoid bones act like  seatbelts for their  brains. Why Because that is how God designed them. Now we can do this all day on different animals that should get head trauma for constantly bumping their heads, however they don’t because The Creator designed them for what their purpose is. Omalu’s argument was that God did not design man for playing football,( to which they quickly told him to leave God out of it) since man does not have any type of safety mechanism in his head to protect the brain. Our brain is inside of the skull floating only in fluids, no seatbelts, no bubble wrap, just fluids. So each time our heads get knocked around, just Imagine a peach(brain) inside of a jar (skull) of water, and then it gets shaken around back and forth and side to side hitting up against the sides of that hard Jar (skull). This goes against nature! The Honorable Elijah Muhammad spoke on sports and play. He believed that organized sports greatly harmed the black community. He stated that white America had intentionally encouraged blacks to participate in games in order to divert their attention from the real source of their problems and keep them from advancing as a civilized people. And yes this applies to boxing, and any other sport that one can receive head trauma. The brain has to have time to heal after a concussion and these players are not afforded this luxury.

Dr. Omalu is accused of trying to shame football, earning him a number of enemies. He is told to retract his statements, saying that he made it all up so as not to harm the NFL’s reputation. He does, however receive support from Julian, who distances himself from the NFL’s actions. Then Dave Duerson is approached by fellow player Andre Waters (Richard T. Jones). Waters is suffering from a mental condition as well and begs Duerson to help him, however he turns his back on him. Waters is later found dead from a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Omalu and Julian meet with Dr. Joseph Maroon, the NFL doctor ( Arliss Howard) over the matter. He chastises Omalu saying he is trying to destroy football, Omalu strongly urges him to tell the truth ( something this devil just will not do, especially when it comes to his money) that could prevent other football players from suffering fates similar  to the recently departed.

Finally three years later, Omalu receives a call from Julian when Dave Duerson commits suicide by shooting himself in the chest, and leaves a note requesting that his brain be examined. The NFL knew the whole time that this was happening, they had their own neurologists. They were willingly allowing these men to go through this and do nothing as they and their loved ones suffered.

Omalu speaks before a group of people on his research. Talks of CTE begin flowing through the country as people become a little more aware. Sparking comparisons between tobacco companies and their denial of the links between tobacco and cancer. Omalu is redeemed, and he later drives by a school during football practice and watches as two players run head to head into each other.

“COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE”. We must leave this sport and play alone and wake up to the knowledge of who we are, that we are first and we will be the last. And we must qualify ourselves to be greater than what they say we are, however what and who they KNOW we are.

Dr. Bennet Omalu was not happy to be the bearer of this bad news because people LOVE football and I can imagine how he felt. Omalu’s last name is really Onyemalukwube which means: “If you know, come forth and speak”. Everything means something, especially our names, which is why they were taken from us when we were brought over here during slavery, however I digress lol. I can bear witness to how much people love this game, as I’ve said before that is all they talk about. I even did a little survey and asked a few people what they love about the sport. One person said (my son Talif) ” Football is somewhat poetic, outside of the vicious hits of course lol. It speaks to men in a way only men can understand”. Well after learning all that I have learned from this movie and Dr. Omalu, I don’t want to watch it period. Dr. Omalu recommends that children are not allowed to play football until the age of 18.

So I was curious about the number of football players that have died from CTE. Unfortunately this CTE can only be detected once the person is dead. The numbers are very confusing to me, which is not surprising because they won’t give you a straight answer if their life depended on it ( and it does). As to date a total of 87 out of 91 former NFL players have tested positive for the brain disease. This from the researchers with the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University. They say in total, the lab has found CTE in the brain tissue in 131 out of 165 individuals who before their deaths, played football either professionally, semi-professionally, in college or in high school.

Some people may watch the movie Concussion or read this blog and think,” Man I am done with watching football”, (me, even though I only watched the Super Bowl lol) and then some will just say ” oh well I love the game too much”. My duty is done here, my name is Rita and it means ” easy to see” and I see the dangers in this and I am warning my people to leave this sports and play to the ones that benefit from it.

So that’s my time. My will is that you learned something from this, I know I did. And until next time…Have a peaceful night’s rest and a happy morning rise. Oh yeah make sure you leave a comment : )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Do Not Die- Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there, I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints on snow. I am the sunlight on the ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain. When you awake in the morning hush, I am the swift uplifting rush of singing birds in circled flight. I am the stars that shine at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry. I am not there. I did not die. – Unknown Artist

So I know what you’re thinking. “What do I mean by we do not die”? Just that, we are all energy and energy does not die. Now before we go too far into this idea, you know I have a movie to incorporate to give you all a visual of what I’m saying. So without further ado, this weeks movie is:

Yes Powder. This movie was released in 1995, however if you watch this movie ( and you most definitely should) you will see how good it is and how it shows the real power of pure energy. They should probably call it Power instead of Powder. The story is about Jeremy Reed, an albino young man who has an amazing intellect and is able to sense the thoughts of others around him. The reason he’s called Powder is because of his powdery white complexion. Powder’s mother was struck by lightning while she was pregnant with him, thus sending her into premature labor. She died shortly after giving birth to Powder. Jeremy survives of course, hence the movie lol. After his father disowns him because of his lack of color and hair, he is raised by his grandparents.

Jeremy (Powder)played by Sean Patrick Flanery  lives in the basement of his grandparents and learns everything he knows from books. He is taken from his home when his grandfather is found dead of natural causes, by Jessie Caldwell played by Mary Steenburgen, a child psychologist. She takes him to a boy’s home, and enrolls him into high school. There he meets physics teacher Donald Ripley played by Jeff Goldblum. Donald learns quite by accident that Powder has some very special qualities.

 

During an demonstration in physics class using a Jacob’s ladder device that shows current running up two wires and then the current flows across the room right into Powder’s chest. It is soon discovered that Powder has the highest I.Q. ever. He also has the innocence of a child, which is what we need to have. This world is so far away from innocence, with it’s wars, killing, raping, slavery, drugs. There are so many elements to this movie, it is a return to innocence. It has a spiritual quality that opens our eyes to life and the unseen. The passion that came in each scene and the sense of realism and truth, Powder was not based on a true story, however it is a true story. It is all of our story, because we are all energy. There is another powerful scene where the deputy is hunting with the other youth and shoots a deer. As the deer is dying Powder comes over and touches the deer and at the same time he grabs hold of the deputy’s hand and makes him feel the depth of pain that he has caused the deer to feel as the deer is dying.

Again energy is transferred from the dying four legged animal through Powder into the living two legged animal, yes I said that. Only animals can so quickly kill for sport. I will say one good thing came out of that and that was that the deputy gained a respect for all life, so much so he got rid of all his guns. He still would not allow himself to see the beauty of Powder, however that’s how people are when they have a fear of what they don’t understand.

I know I’ve been giving a lot of spoilers and I promise this is the last one, I mean really people this movie is 15 years old lol. Anyway this scene leads up to the climatic ending.

There is a scene where Powder has decided he’s had enough of “the world” and who can blame him, he wants to go home and he packs his bags and starts to leave. As he is leaving the orphanage he stops in the  schools gym( why oh why did he do this)? He sees one of the boys undressing in the locker room and stares at him. Not in a sexual way, however in a way where he is looking at the differences between his hairless pale body and the boys body. Of course one of the other boys sees him and calls him out as a homo, things get pretty ugly from there. They drag Powder out into the yard and strip him naked. I really don’t want to give too much of this scene away, however things get very…well electric. The bully dies and Powder brings him back to life using his bare hands and pure energy that he is on the boys chest to revive him with electricity.

We are all energy. These bodies that we wear are just that…bodies. When we pass the physical part of us is not who we are, the unseen does not die, it just goes to other places, transcends. This is what Powder realizes in the end. His want to go home was not what he thought at first ( his grandparents farm) It kind of makes me think of Michael Jackson, his will was so strong to leave this realm where people did not understand him, because of his differences. They feared him so much that it showed the true monsters they really are, however they tried to call him the monster. After returning to the farm and realizing this was no longer his home, he runs out into the field with Jessie, Donald and the sheriff running behind him. It starts to thunder and streaks of lightning light up the sky.

Jeremy (Powder) is hit by a bolt of lightning and he disappears in a blinding flash of light, transcending earthly limitations and becoming pure energy that radiates across the farm field and strikes the ones chasing after him and gives them enlightenment.

We can all learn to tap into our energy by having the innocence of a child. We all have the ability to turn up or down our energy vibration based on the thoughts we choose, the emotions we feel, and the actions we take.  We really need to begin the process of learning to get this vibrational level right. For example, there is an aspect of us- our higher self, which is profoundly powerful, that we vibrate at such a high heat that we could potentially melt the sun. Or on the other hand, when we radiate at a lower energy field an our vibration is too low or cold. We are unable to attain that connection with our higher self.

We must consciously and diligently work to raise our vibration. Not only can we reverse a low energy state when we connect with and work with our higher self, however we can also gain great benefits such as joy, youthfulness, and even wealth!

Well on that note I will leave you with this- Be Happy, Have the Innocence of a child, and Love yourself. Make sure you check out the movie and leave a response so I will know what your thoughts are about the movie. So until the next time…Have a peaceful night’s rest and a Happy morning rise!