I’m taken aback by the power of Spotlight.
The team and it’s stories, featured in the Spotlight film, is a real thing. I recently visited their website and was very impressed with their ability to tell relevant stories in a world that seems more obsessed with stories that have little lasting significance than stories–real human stories–that have lasting impact. The Spotlight film focuses on the paper’s exposure of sex abuses in the Catholic Church. Over the last 10 years the story has been largely forgotten, but there was a scandal–a rash of priests abusing minors–that stretched upwards to the Vatican. It is easier to shut our ears and eyes to the important stories than it is to actually accept that things happen. Accepting the reality of such things means that we either act or live with the fact that we did not act.
Neither is easy and that is why news is often so very shallow and meaningless.
That brings me back to Spotlight. They continue to tell the difficult stories and inspire me to do the same. I’ve been working on a plan to do so. I am moving towards an academic space where I can help students tell the tough stories–tell their stories. My focus this semester is on students asking questions and digging deeper, looking for the truth beyond the obvious and the cover up and the easy.