Cello Song and fighting the blind side

How do you inspire someone?  Each person has their version of inspiration- for some it's a famous athlete that inspires them to achieve their physical best; for me, it's music.  A song, at a certain moment that just hits me smack in the face and reminds me of how lucky I am to have music in my life, and how much it keeps me sane.

Being a teacher with a ridiculous schedule of teaching and training sessions, listening to music is my peace and calm while in transit from one place to another.  Although I try to include music in my lessons as often as possible, it doesn't always happen and doesn't always allow for finding new music.  This week, it stumbled upon me completely by surprise!  With my 12th graders, who are tired and eager to get out of school, we are struggling to find that last bit of inspiration to keep them coming to class and to give them any last bit of information we can before they head out into the world on their own.  As a part of my last hurrah, we started a project similar to #365Grateful and #100happydays, to connect with ourselves and the world around us, reflecting on our daily lives as they are now- at this moment- to see the good around us.

Along with it, I'm showing the film "The Blind Side."  This film inspires me in many ways, as a teacher, as a person who wants to see good done to others, not evil.  Most of all it gives me hope.  I hope my students will catch even a speckle of hope and inspiration that I feel when I'm in front of them, learning with them. 

 This song, Cello Song, originally by Nick Drake on his 1969 album, Five Leaves Left, is a meditation masterpiece, with a continuous flow of energy.  As the guitar riffs bounce off of the bongo drums in the background, Drake's soothing voice calms the listener and gives this sense of hope I'm looking for.  With beautiful cello interludes it's utterly breathtaking, and a bit sad, as it deeply reflects Drake's struggle with depression.

The last verse slides away into a deep, still pool of water, and you're left wondering if he feels the hope himself or not.

So forget this cruel world

Where I belong

Ill just sit and wait

And sing my song

And if one day

you should see me in the crowd

Lend a hand and lift me

To your place in the cloud

But Drake's version is not in the film The Blind Side, which instead includes a cover of the song by a NYC duo called The Books.  They have since then split up, but they grabbed José González for this cover, which was a part of a charity album for Red Hot, an organization whose biggest cause is the battle against HIV and AIDS.  González's vocals are just as smooth as Drake's, but the flair of electronic undertones give the song a new breath.  It sets certain tone for the movie, which tells the story of a lost teenager looking for someone to "lend a hand and lift him up to the cloud."