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Safety

Safety:

December 11, 2020 by Jason Thai Leave a Comment

Disney’s new film “Safety” is an autobiography on real-life NCAA player Ray McElrathbey (Jay Reeves), a struggling student on a football scholarship at Clemson University who must try to balance his life between school, work, football practice, and taking care of his younger brother. With their mother in rehab, Ray fights to persevere through the adversity and defies all odds.

As safety for the Clemson Tigers, Ray McElrathbey’s goal is to support his teammates as the last line of defense. In the same way, he must act as the last line of defense for his younger brother. With his mother in rehab and his father a criminal, Ray must choose between leaving his brother, Fahmarr (Thaddeus J. Mixson) in foster care or taking him in and risking his entire football scholarship. Being the loving brother he is, Ray decides to take him in. In the beginning of the film, Ray is relies only on himself, mentioning multiple times that he’s not a charity case. He lives his life clinging to the idea that total independence makes you strong and that you can’t rely on anyone but yourself. Over time, this idea has become embedded in his heart mainly due to his difficult upbringing and having to struggle so hard all his life to get to where he is now.

Overwhelmed and about to lose his brother to social workers, Ray’s team comes together to help take care of Fahmarr. Amazingly, his coaches and teammates create a community of support for the two brothers, taking turns taking care of Fahmarr and driving him to school as well as feeding him. While he may be the safety on the field, his team takes on the role of ‘last line of defence’ in his life and their support gives Ray the safe footing that he needs to push forward. 

Having said this, it’s important to note that, while the film carries a feel-good tone that’s appropriate for families, it does somehow feel like a missed opportunity to explore the types of challenges that Ray experienced. As a young African-American male struggling to survive, it may have been more appropriate at a moment like this to delve more into the lack of resources available to him and the loneliness that he would have experienced along his journey. Though the intent was clearly to provide a tale of uplifting joy, it also could be argued that it doesn’t always paint an accurate picture of life for students who have difficulty off the field as well.

Overall, Safety does amount to an inspiring film that charms its audience. As a student athlete, parent and working a full-time job, it’s fair to say that Ray’s journey is one filled with many roadblocks and challenges. Even so, what’s most inspiring is that Ray never thinks of giving up. As he pushes forward to do better, his sacrifice towards his brother is unwavering and his loyalty absolute. Though far from perfect, Safety ultimately ends up scoring as a true underdog story. 

Safety launches on Disney+ on Friday, December 11th, 2020.

Filed Under: Disney+, Featured, Film, Reviews Tagged With: Disney, Disney+, Football, Jay Reeves, Ray McElrathbey, Safety, Thaddeus J. Mixson

Origins Ep. 6 – The Importance of Shelter

April 17, 2017 by J. Alan Sharrer Leave a Comment

(photo credit: National Geographic)

Humans are quite good at building things. During the last century or so, we’ve created numerous machines and devices that allow modern life to prosper—and even thrive.  We’ve constructed massive skyscrapers, allowing people to live and work closer together than ever before.  We’ve even created incredibly small devices that may, in the future, revolutionize how we take care of individuals who are sick.  And yet, at the end of the day, we all want to go somewhere that has a roof to protect us from the elements, allows us to spend quality family time, and offers us security from intruders while we sleep.

In short, we want shelter.  In the sixth episode of Origins (NatGeo, 9 PM/8PM CT), the discussion centers around this basic aspect of life many take for granted. You see, the spaces we exist in are reflections of who we are and windows into what our culture holds dear.

The early days of humanity were challenging to live in. Hunter-gatherers found caves or created their own spaces out of animal bones covered in furs to protect not only their close families, but other members of their community. It seems that once people are comfortable in their surroundings, they begin to develop a sense of identity—and the hearth was one place this occurred.  Dwellings later allowed for individual privacy—something unheard of. Again, people didn’t have to merely attempt to survive hour by hour; they could explore other options for their lives.  Glass windows allowed natural light to penetrate a house, eliminated the need for candles during the daytime, and helped to regulate temperature (thanks, Rome!). Faith communities saw the potential for larger buildings and natural light to help draw attention to themselves—a great example of this is the Durham Cathedral in England.

Advances continued to be made over the centuries, none bigger than the Otis safety elevator in the 19th century.  Now buildings could be taller than ever while still offering safe spaces to live (and as a bonus, the most prized location in a building moved from the bottom floor to the top).  In the outlying areas of New York, a pair of brothers in 1947 created plans for Levittown, the precursor to modern-day suburbia.  The keys to these shelters were safety and community—something we will end up treasuring and coveting well into the future.

(photo credit: National Geographic)

I personally found this episode of Origins to be intriguing, as I never considered the effect just having a consistent form of shelter could have on an individual.  If you’re not having to worry about surviving, your pursuits of life can vary.  Those pursuits can be beneficial not only to one family, but people around the world. Imagine how different life might be if Thomas Edison had to go from place to place attempting to kill animals for food or figure out how to get his clothes clean daily.  Jesus told us not to worry about the intricacies of life, but seek the Kingdom of God first (see Matthew 6:33). To do that, however, one should be in a safe place where they can be silent and listen to God’s voice—consider the cave experience of Elijah as an example (see 1 Kings 19).  It goes to show the importance of shelter.  Protection and community allow us to become the people God wants us to be.

Filed Under: Current Events, Reviews, Television Tagged With: community, Durham Cathedral, Elijah, Jesus, Levittown, National Geographic, Origins, Otis Elevator, Protection, Rome, Safety, Shelter, Skyscrapers, Windows

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