Miracles and Religion

Well, I didn't get many questions from the last post, except for Glam (thanks, sweetie), so I'm going to let that sit for a bit longer.

The Miracle of Kathy Miller

I know a lot of you are younger than me (wah!!) and might not remember a made-for-television movie from 1981 (after all, I was only nine), but The Miracle of Kathy Miller stuck with me. Confession: I couldn't remember the name when I first started thinking of using it in a post. I only remembered that her name was Kathy. A big thanks to Megora at CC for getting me the name.

Here is a review for the movie:

Helen Hunt is outstanding as the real-life Kathy Miller, a 13-year-old Arizona athlete and honor student whose world came to a screeching halt in 1977. Struck by a car on a lonely highway, Kathy spends the next ten weeks in a coma. Upon awakening, she is unable to walk, talk, read or write: she has sustained massive brain damage and her leg has been mutilated. The experts say "No hope", but neither Kathy nor her parents (Sharon Gless, Frank Converse) will settle for that diagnosis. After eight torturous months of physical and mental therapy, Kathy Miller is entered in a 6-mile race -- the first of many stepping stones to her ultimate status as a world champion.

Now why did I love it so much? It was such an inspiration to me. Here was this girl, just a little older than me, who had suffered something so much worse than only having one arm, and she didn't just survive. She didn't just live. She TRIUMPHED!

Her attitude made me realize exactly how possible it is for people (no matter their difficulties) to accomplish anything.

Saved!

I was watching movies late at night a few years ago and came across this one. Since I really can't stand Macaulay Culkin as an actor, I almost changed the channel.

Instead, I ended up changing my mind about his acting ability.

He is amazing in this movie, playing wheelchair bound Roland. Now, I didn't see the entire thing, so I don't know why he was unable to walk, but it really doesn't matter. Neither does the fact that he's a secondary character. Or that I hated the whole plot of the movie.

I would watch it again just to see him play Roland.

It was the same way when I watched Sean Penn in I Am Sam. I learned to absolutely adore him. He played the part of a mentally retarded man so well.

Here Sam is being read a goodnight story by his young daughter.