Self-Reliance is Constant Effort

“The system may be broken, but Amar’s spirit certainly isn’t.”

I recently saw a video showing a day in the life of a 14-year-old young man in India named Amar. He gets up early and works two jobs, before and after school, six and a half days a week. His income provides a substantial part of his family’s livelihood. He hurries home on his worn bicycle from his second job after dark and somehow squeezes in a few hours of homework before dropping onto his bed on the floor between sleeping siblings around eleven o’clock at night. Although I’ve never met him, I feel proud of him for his diligence and courage. He is doing the very best he can with his limited resources and opportunities, and he is a blessing to his family. (Brethren, We Have Work to Do — D. Todd Christofferson)

The current era of documentary is certainly a pessimistic one. Humanity is destroying the world! What you eat is killing you! The system is broken! We relish in the dissection of our own destruction, shocked that people could be so corrupt, that our future could look so bleak.

Then, comes a film like Amar (all great achievements require time). Lyrical and deliberately paced, Amar follows a 14 year-old Indian boy at the top of his class who would someday like to be a professional cricketer. He also happens to be his family’s main breadwinner, working two jobs six and half days a week. But, this film isn’t an analysis of Amar’s misery or an expose on his suffering. No, it’s instead a quiet celebration of the human spirit–of a boy whose tenacity and quiet resolve carry him through every day. The system may be broken, but Amar’s spirit certainly isn’t. (Amar — Short of the Week)