By Cicely Sandifer/ reporter
Leigh Anne Tuohy, a mother who was portrayed in the film The Blind Side, told college students across the country from a live broadcast that everyone can make a difference to somebody.
The speech was broadcast from New Jersey City University by the National Society of Leadership and Success and watched by a group of students on NE Campus.
She talked about the time she and her family saw Michael Oher walking on the side of the street. She and her husband later adopted Oher, who now plays in the NFL.
“All we did was one simple, random act of kindness,” Tuohy said. “We turned our car around, and it changed his life.”
Tuohy gave personal observations from The Blind Side, spoke about why it’s important to recognize the full potential of others and to find the value in others who are deemed valueless by society.
“You can’t just give up on people,” Tuohy said during the Q&A session. “Keep loving them, keep the affirmation that they’re worthy, that they’re valuable and then they’ll start believing that.”
Tuohy urged all who watched to know how important it is to leave a footprint on society and to associate with people who do.
“Do what you can where you are with what you got,” Tuohy said.
Tuohy told students it doesn’t matter what color their skin is or what clothes they wear. People are more alike than they are different.
NE student and NSLS member Ivan Garcia agreed it doesn’t matter what people look like or what they have.
“We are all equal, and no matter how different we are, we are all the same,” he said.
Tuohy spoke of the process of turning her family’s story into a movie.
“We did this slight interview for The New York Times with Michael Lewis, and it went viral,” Tuohy said.
Michael Lewis wrote the book, The Blind Side, and about three years later, the movie came out.
Student development assistant Sandy Davis led a discussion after the broadcast.
“So, those moments when someone reaches out to you, take a hold of that lifeline,” Davis said.
