42

I loved this movie.  This was my third time watching it and it was just as good as the first.  It's one of those "feel good" movies that you could watch over and over again.  I thought the characters all fit their roles perfectly and the story, although historical, was portrayed in a very entertaining way that made me want to keep watching.  The content in it was really powerful and the movie really moved me.  It made me really happy when Jackie's teammates were finally accepting of him.  Even though I never felt like there was truly 100% acceptance from his teammates, I liked how they went from being completely terrible racists to people who understood that Jackie was just like them.  Jackie was a truly inspiring character as he continued playing the game he loved and standing up for his race as a whole, even though it seemed like the majority of white America was against it.  A small part of the movie that really bothered me was when a father and his son were at one of the games and you could see that the young son was bothered when the people around him began yelling racist things at Jackie.  But, once his dad began to yell with the rest of the crowd, he joined in as well.  This just showed how quickly and easily racism was passed on and it was sad to see it manifest itself in such a young child.  Overall, I loved the movie and thought it was very inspiring, making me question what my true purpose in life really is.

I think Jackie Robinson really helped break the racial barrier in sports in America.  When he was playing major league baseball, he had a lot at stake.  People were sending him and his family death threats, which can't be easy to deal with, and he received a lot of hatred.  When people shouted terrible things at him, he had to ignore them and be the bigger person, which had to be extremely hard to do.  We must learn from people like Jackie to do what you want to do and act in the most respectable way possible, regardless of what other people say or do.  He showed that if you're determined, you can persist through a lot of obstacles.

I could use Jackie's values to break a lot of my own barriers.  Determination is something that's very important to me right now since I'm a senior and will be in college next year.  I'm determined to complete my schooling so that I can be successful.  I'm sure there will be times where it'll be tough to stick to my studies when there are so many distractions, but with the right amount of determination, I'll be able to balance my school work and all of the fun things college has to offer.  Teamwork is also something that's very important to me as I'm a part of several teams, such as Mock Trial and the school tennis team.  Teamwork involves putting in good effort and being supportive of the other people on your team.  Commitment also ties in with teamwork because in order to be a good teammate, you need to be committed to the thing that your team is a part of.

I somewhat agree with Jackie's quote, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other's lives."  I partially agree with this because the way you impact others is the way your remembered, and when you're gone, all that's left are memories.  Thus, the way your remembered is what most of your life summed up to, so it's important to leave a good impact on others so you can be remembered in a positive light.  I also think it's important to do some nice things for yourself in life, too.  You could leave an incredibly good impact on others but feel unfulfilled.  It's important to set personal goals for you to accomplish, too.