Today I watched the movie Remember the Titans. It tells the story of a high school in the south (T. C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia) during the early years of racial desegregation and the resultant challenges facing a newly integrated football team. It was a movie recommended to me in 2005 by an American National Government professor, Erik Lipham. To me the central story was so compelling and the victory on many levels so significant that I overlooked the flaws found in the movie by critics. One thing that intrigued me about the movie was the team’s development of a unique style during warm-up. In musical terms the difference between the typical warm-up style and theirs was the difference between martial band music and jazz. They found they were so unique and different, that they developed a style to express it. Style (as a transitive verb) is defined by Encarta Dictionary as: to give something a particular shape or design. Since everyone is different, each person develops a unique style. I’m speaking of the style that resides in a person beyond hair style or clothes worn. I’m speaking of the style of verbal and bodily expression. It’s what defines a person and makes their presentation different from all others. It’s important to find one’s style and have confidence in its worthiness and faithfulness to the essential person. If one is comfortable with themselves, they are not constantly shopping for a superficial style that imitates others. Then their unique and true style will find expression. They and their style are one.
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