Poverty is bad enough, if you have a pair of addictive parents, and your grandfather is also against ordinary ethics, how long can you guarantee your survival in this environment? This is a very reductive legend, some people say they are encouraged after reading it, but many more people will feel that they may not live to start at all, because poverty and depression will erase all the good things in your heart. The movie is called "Wind and Rain Harvard Road", the protagonist was born in a slum in a home of addicts, her parents both took drugs, and because of this, she was infected with AIDS, and she spent her entire stinky childhood in such a harsh environment. At the age of 15, he begged and wandered with friends with similar backgrounds like himself, and almost never went to school, but in the end, he escaped the stench of the slums by his own efforts and successfully applied for the opportunity to study at Harvard University.
The girl, named Liz, described her addictive parents this way: I love my mom very, very much, she is addicted to drugs, she is also an alcoholic, she is almost blind in her eyes, she also suffers from schizophrenia, she always does something on her arm, but I will never forget that she loves me, although she herself often forgets. And my dad was a man on the dividing line between genius and madness, he knew all the contents of the encyclopedia, he could answer almost any question, he taught me so much, even if he was also addicted to drugs like my mother, my only wish was to never lose my family. With two addictive parents like this, how many of them can accept it as calmly as Ritz?
At the beginning of the story, the addict's mother and her sister fight for money, and the mother keeps yelling and intimidating, wanting her sister to take out the money to let her buy drugs, and the sister gets up and fights back, because once the money is handed over, the sisters will have to go hungry. Liz looked at the painful mother and couldn't help but take out the hidden money, the mother suddenly stopped going crazy, and even a gentle and loving smile appeared on her face, Liz ghostly handed over the money in her hand, but after only a few seconds, her mother immediately returned to her previous crazy appearance and rushed out the door with the money. And since the process of the family from hysterical state to calm, Dad has always been huddled on the couch and watching the encyclopedic quiz program on TV, as if everything has nothing to do with him, Liz hurriedly woke up Dad and went out to look for himself, but when the two saw Mom's figure, Dad seemed to forget the purpose of going out, he went up and laughed with Mom and bought drugs. Seeing this scene, Liz realized that it was useless, so she had to pick up the food thrown away by others in the garbage can to fill her hunger, and the action was skillfully distressing, and this situation was almost every day.
In such a hungry and bad day, Liz still desperately guards the dilapidated "crazy house", but when her mother has another mental attack, the government officials have to force her to leave. Liz chased her mother all the way downstairs, and she grabbed the side of the car, but was eventually dragged away. She knew that her mother was enduring great pain, and that it was not her own will to create the situation, and she was deeply in love with the Liz sisters, but she had nothing to give.
Liz was old enough to go to school, but she hardly went to school, and although she was very smart and her teachers demanded that she must go to school, she knew that she would never be able to go to school as calmly as a child in a normal family. Liz in the school is the only "smelly" child, the state of her parents can not teach her how to maintain hygiene, so Liz always has lice on her head, teeth are always itchy, panties are always torn before changing, children always laugh at her, but despite this, Liz is still the highest grade in the class. Some people will ask her if she inherited the talent of her father, who knows the encyclopedia, but this is only secondary, Liz can do this because she has love in her heart, and when she does not get the love of her parents, she still has a affectionate love for her parents when she witnesses her grandfather insulting her sister.
A few months later, her mother returned, and although she was accompanied by AIDS, her mother's state was much better, and just when Liz thought that everything would be fine, her mother told her that she could not refuse drugs and wanted to move back to her grandfather's house. Mom and sister are gone, and only Liz stubbornly stays in the "crazy house", thinking that this will change everything, but soon the government agents come again. The teacher reported that Liz did not go to school, and Liz's father was not suitable for taking care of the children, so Liz was temporarily put in a welfare home and waited for her grandfather to come to her door to claim it.
After days of grandpa not showing up, Liz finally realized that she had been abandoned and had to live with the homeless girls. In this seemingly peaceful welfare home, Liz saw scene after scene of bullying and revenge, and also felt the inexplicable malice of others to herself, so she finally chose to temporarily bow her eyebrows and go to her grandfather's house. Fortunately, mom is no longer schizophrenic, no longer exposed to drugs, and can even go shopping and communicating like a normal person, Liz watched her former wish become a reality, and wanted to persuade her mother to return to her father, but the penniless father had already abandoned the "home" in Liz's heart, and lived alone in the shelter, Liz's desire for affection finally became a luxury.
Liz is back at school, she's no longer a "smelly" kid, and she's made good friends, Chris. Chris was also born in a problem family, when she was a child, she was raped by her biological father, although her mother called the police for her, but finally returned to her husband without hesitation, humble to the bone Kris can not see a glimmer of light, and even self-destructively use cigarette butts to burn the palm of the self-harm to vent themselves. Seeing this, Liz stopped her, because his grandfather had also violated morality, and she proposed to let Kris stay here quietly, but grandpa's sudden return home broke her perfect plan, so she packed up her things and escaped, and the two girls quickly reached an agreement and began to be 15 years old begging and wandering.
Subway seats, street intersections, rooftops on the top floor, and even classmates' homes were turned into places where the two girls slept. Although she was begging and wandering outside, Liz still missed her mother, and she knew where her mother was, so she began to skip class again, secretly returning to take care of her mother as much as she could. Mom could occasionally talk to her normally, but the pain was no different, until Liz went to look for her mother again, and finally got the news that she was exhausted. There was no funeral, no priest, no decent coffin and tombstone, and she didn't even know where to go to worship her mother in the future. Chris wrote a prayer on Liz's mother's coffin and then persuaded her to return to the welfare home with her, but Liz hesitated.
Chris is also gone, Liz lies on her mother's coffin, and finally accepts the fact that her mother left due to illness, she thinks of the humiliation in the welfare home before, thinks of the "home" that her father abandoned for many years, thinks of her sister who can't bear to send people to the fence, and the home in her heart is completely gone. Lying on the coffin, Liz rethinked her life, thinking that she could not live at the bottom of society so foolishly forever, that she could no longer live this life without dignity and hope, so she made the first choice to create a better life: to return to school.
Liz approached a neighbor to help, hoping to cover up her homelessness with her home address and phone number, and began the long journey to school. After Liz ran into a wall, she finally persuaded the principal to enter a compulsory teaching school, but the last problem was that she needed the signature of a guardian, so Liz went to the shelter and saw her father. The father is much older and has AIDS, but he still helped his daughter go to school to sign, perhaps he also knows that he has hardly fulfilled his father's responsibilities, if it were not for his daughter's strong self-reliance, perhaps she would have become like herself. So when he left, he told Liz: I'm not a normal person, but that has nothing to do with you, you don't love me, that's a waste of energy, you go to school, although I messed up, but you can do it, I will live forever.
The enrollment procedures have been completed, Liz sent away her father and threw herself into the hard work of achieving all-A results, she has no home, no money, and no academic foundation, but she still did not give up, but began to work and study half-time. Any time that could be used while riding the subway, washing dishes, or even sleeping with someone else was seized by Liz, whose aim was to complete four years of classes in two years, during which time she ran into Chris again. Liz took her to the headmaster, hoping to persuade Chris to go to school with her, but Chris was too humble to change her life, she said that I am not the material, I know myself, in the future, I will either be a garbage picker or a prostitute.
At the same time, the principal brought a message that changed Liz's life, the school will sponsor the top ten in the school to travel to Boston for free, and Liz is the first, and this trip, allowing Liz to climb over the wall and see another beautiful world beyond the slums. Liz came to Harvard University, the atmosphere of which surprised and longed for her, and the headmaster understood Liz's thoughts, and he encouraged: They are also ordinary people, you can do it, this desire is not impossible. Although the trip made Liz realize that setting goals and achieving them are two completely different concepts, she knew that even if she doubted herself, she had to work hard to achieve them, because she had no choice.
Finally, Liz got an interview for a full scholarship to Harvard University, hosted by The New York Times. For a decent coat, she had to go back to her sister for help. The sister did not expect that her sister had returned to school and her life had changed, but she did not have the courage to change the reality, and could only live with her animal-like grandfather without dignity, and also contracted the same disease as her mother. Liz said goodbye to her sister and was ready to rush to the interview, on the way she met Chris again, but she did not expect that the friends who had been sorry for each other before had actually exported sarcasm to her, Chris felt that such a good school could not accept people like them who needed to rely on others to survive, Liz turned and ran to the interview, she understood that the two people's paths were completely different, and the only small friendship she had ever existed had ever existed.
Eventually, Liz passed the interview, got a job at the New York Times, officially got her own apartment, and received a full scholarship to Harvard University, so she no longer had to carry everything with her. Liz's fighting spirit is worth learning from everyone, but her success is obviously not replicable, ordinary people can't go to school like her but still get full marks, and it is impossible to complete four years of courses in two years while working to earn money, not to mention that she has a kind of persistence without a way out, just like she said: I never ask why this is so, because this does not make me happy, but I will feel sad, I have no way to retreat, so I can only be forced to look forward, to work as hard as I can to see what will happen.
Some people have tears many times during watching this movie, but some people have no feelings, in fact, because "Wind and Rain Harvard Road" tells real people and real events, but it is perfect like a fairy tale. Liz lives in such an intolerable environment for ordinary people, but still has a certain degree of social ability, and can even speak in front of everyone without timidity, but in real life, poor people generally cannot do so. The poverty of life will make it difficult for such people to accept the kindness of others, just like Chris, will feel inferior because of fear of others looking down on themselves, people who want to lend a helping hand can not start, really live at the bottom of society, neither high intelligence nor self-confident personality, and even less liz's happy ending, but what if we think from another perspective?
At first, Liz did not know what kind of results would be achieved by her persistence, she was also saddled with her past hard work, and did not complain about the injustice of the world once, when the reporter asked if you could change, then what would you change, Liz's answer was to exchange everything she got now for the restoration of her family. In fact, in the face of such a family, most people will be eager to get rid of it immediately, but Liz still has a warm affection for her parents, so if you are not worse than her situation, then why can't you force yourself like her, learn to change yourself from today, stop complaining, burn and calm the painful past, and then stride forward towards the place where there is light!