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At the very beginning, when Leigh takes Mike home and prepares bed for him for the first time, Mike is afraid to accept her kindness because he has been thrown from one family to another since he was taken away from his mother when he was only seven years old. He refuses to get too close to anyone because of his early experience.
However, when Mike has regarded himself as one member of the family, something unexpected happens. When Mike finishes his study successfully, the workers of NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) conduct an investigation into him and suggest that his foster parents are taking advantage of him and getting a job from Mike’s university, which means all the kindness of his foster family is fake and with ulterior motives.
Those are big problems for Leigh who wants to involve him into her family. Thanks to Leigh’s patience and especially a heart of true love, Mike’s love could be awakened and he decides to involve himself into this warm home.
However, not only Mike faces different barriers, Leigh also stays in an awkward predicament. Her kindness also draws on doubts among her friends and even the national organization NCAA.
She treats Mike as her own son, takes a family photo on Christmas Eve and then makes it as their Christmas cards and sends them to their distant families and friends. However, her behavior comes into her friends’ notice. They laugh at Mike’s big body and black skin. They take it as some joke or some sort of white guilt thing for Leigh to help the colored boy. Facing the doubts, sarcasm and misunderstanding, Leigh says she doesn’t need them all approve of her choices, but she does ask them to respect her. They have no idea what this boy’s been through. Firmly, she chooses to speak for Mike instead of keeping silent.
When the NCAA officials get involved in the enrollment of Mike and his adoption, Mike feels quite nervous and uneasy. The interview is of great importance to both the family and Mike. Mike almost feels desperate for he has no idea how to cope with it. Then Leigh rises to the occasion by telling Mike to take it easy. Instead of eagerly implanting into him a so-called correct answer for the sake of her family reputation, she simply encourages him to answer the questions and express his ideas in whatever way his heart directs. With her love with no pressure, Mike is able to overcome the barrier.
Sometimes, economic strength cannot be ignored when people wish to help and show love. For the poor, they may be unable to do what they hope to do. At the beginning of the film, Mike is taken care by another family. Although his foster father tries hard to send him to a white school and wants to give him a better life, his family situation, especially the economic one stands as a barrier. As a matter of fact, he starts to ignore him and tries to get rid of him even though he truly wishes to help the boy at the beginning. On the contrary, Leigh could keep to the end in her help for Mike, for she lives in the US upper society and her husband possesses thousands of fast food shops. Their affluent economic strength enables her to do whatever she wants to and help whoever she wants to help. Things become much easier for Leigh than Mike’s former foster family. Therefore, to some extent, we cannot deny the importance of economy.
Erich Fromm deems that love is a kind of art and it is in need of practice. Actually, in the process of love, it is also very necessary to be patient and mentally strong enough to fight with outside doubts. Only in this way can love endure.
5 Rewards of Love
Rewards come from hard work, as farmers want to harvest in autumn, one must sow in spring .It is same in the situation of Leigh showing her love for Mike. We can put her rewards into three parts: the change in Mike’s affection to the family, the change in Mike’s awareness and talents in football, and the most valuable one, the spread of love.