To Save a Life - by Monica

I recently interviewed Jon Russo, who graduated two years before I did from my alma mater Notre Dame Prep, for the alumni magazine distributed a couple times per year.

My inspirational news for this week is actually about a movie that will be released a week from today on Jan. 22.

How does an alumnus from my school have anything to do with this movie, you may ask?

Well, Russo is now a hip-hop artist under the alias J-Rus (you can listen to his music here). And one of his songs is actually one of the background tracks for the movie’s preview (the first song in the preview). He will be traveling to L.A. on Thursday to help promote the movie.

This movie isn’t a typical movie that I usually see in previews. This movie isn’t a typical “boy-meets-girl” movie, boy falls in love with girl, the end. It’s not a typical “shoot ‘em up” movie with blowing up stuff as the central special effect. Nor is it a mindless comedy where each joke has various body parts as the central theme of the joke. No, this is a movie that’s premise is teaching people to be nicer to their fellow human being. It’s a movie that teaches us not to judge others based on whether or not they are considered “cool” or a “loser.”

Each one of us has the power to make someone feel like they belong. Each one of us has the power to save a life.

This is the central theme of the movie.

Most movies I see have very predictable story lines where money, fame, and good looks are much of the focus.

This movie is more than that.

It’s appropriately called “To Save a Life.” It is a movie about an all-star sports player in high school whose childhood friend committed suicide. The movie centers around the effect this had on the main character’s life and how he, in turn, would sacrifice his dreams to help save the lives of others.

Not only is this movie an inspiration, but Russo, who I spoke about in the beginning of this blog post, also makes it his goal to be an inspiration to his peers. He spoke time and time again that, if you have a dream, you just need to reach for it. Anything is possible.

“When you have destiny knocking at your heart’s door 24/7, you can’t run away from it. You have to pursue it with everything you’ve got,” Russo said.

As Russo has demonstrated in his own life, if you work hard enough, the dreams that some people may doubt can definitely become a reality.