An inspiring Oscar acceptance speech

I watched some of the Oscars last night. Ok, I only saw one award, (I had a really busy but really fun weekend) and it happened to be for the Best Score. Normally those awards are annoying (sorry) but a friend grew up with the man nominated for "Up" - a movie I have not seen but have heard is a great, great movie.

Well, he won, and his acceptance speech was fabulous, wonderful and inspiring. He said when he was a child and wanted to be creative his parents and teachers never told him it was a waste, instead they encouraged him and supported him. And then he said (this is the great part) so if you are a child and you are out there and the people around you are telling you it's a waste, don't listen to them, listen to me, it is not a waste, follow your dreams, be creative if you want to be creative, listen to me.

I'm a sap for kids, I think they should be protected and loved and built up (have you ever complained that someone believed in you too much?) so I teared up just thinking how invaluable one voice can be to a child who may not be getting loved and protected. Sometimes just one "you can do it!" can drown out all the "you can'ts" and I hope there are a few children out there today walking a bit lighter and smiling a bit bigger and daring to hope that maybe, just maybe, their dream could come true.

I hope I never tell my children that their dreams are a waste.