2021-18 I Am Your Father
On January 17th, 1931, A baby boy was born in Mississippi. Early in this boy’s life there were challenges. His father abandoned him and his mother when he was a baby. He ended up being raised by his grandparents who were farmers in Michigan. When he was a little older it came very apparent that this young boy had a stutter. He even describes his stutter as being severe enough that he would not introduce himself or speak when visitors came to the house. For eight years from the ages of 6 - 14, he was actually a mute and did not speak at all. He attributes this to being the reason why he is such a very good listener. His stutter is also the very thing that drove him to acting. In high school, his English teacher would have him stand in front of the class and recite his own poetry to help him overcome his stutter.
After high school and serving in the Korean War, this young man ventured out to New York to pursue his dream of acting. During this time he worked as a janitor to earn a living. In 1953 his only line in his first roll in the play, Sunrise At Campobello, proved to be difficult as his stutter caused him to not finish his line in front of the live audience as he could not get past the first word that started with the letter M and he quickly exited the stage and the play went on. Thankfully that experience did not make him stop his dream of acting and to this date his stutter has not occurred on stage or film since. Fun fact, he was the very first celebrity guest on Sesame Street. With one of the most recognizable voices, in 1977 he completed the voice over in only two and a half hours for one of my all time favorite characters, Darth Vader. Yes, we are talking about the one and only, amazing, James Earl Jones.
A great quote from James Earl Jones is “One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter”.
With May the Fourth right around the corner, Star Wars is a big part of my childhood and adult life. I can still remember sitting in the living room of my grandparents watching New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi with my uncles in 1980 something. It’s so much fun that with the new series and movies that have come out recently and reliving the prior episodes, I can share my fandom with my kids. My personal opinion, Darth Vader would not be Darth Vader without the voice of James Earl Jones.
Each of us have our own, unique set of challenges. That’s just part of life. What defines us is how we react to our challenges we may have. A lot of times it will not be easy, and we may have to pick ourselves up more than once. Just remember the Cub Scout motto to “Do Your Best.”