Akeelah and The Bee

I just saw a movie last night that is one of the BEST films I've ever seen.
Akeelah and The Bee.

It's a sweet, well-made, challenging, and very inspirational film about an 11-year old girl from Crenshaw Middle School in South Central L.A. who has the gift for words, and goes on to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. But it's so rich beyond that facile description. At one point in the story, Akeelah's mentor, played to perfection by Lawrence Fishburn, has her read, and interpret, the following quote...

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous.
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us -- it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

If you need a boost in your emotions, if your spiritual tank is getting low, see this movie. You'll be elated and ecstatic by the end.