I Beat the Odds the Story of Michael Oher
By DonYaeger
Sometimes the worst possible situations in life can have the happiest endings. Michael Oher, the kid with eight siblings, dad who left his family, and mom who was a drug addict and alcoholic had a horrible life where he was. Him and his broken family lived together in the projects, but a lot of times they had been sleeping on the streets together because of his mother needed people to come into their home and check on her to make sure that she hasn't been on drugs or alcohol for the safety and benefits of the family. He had nothing going for him in his life, until life changing events saved Michael Oher from being a washed up nobody.
No one at school ever liked Michael and never wanted to interact with him despite how nice of a person he really was. There was never a serious reason in why people did not like to talk to him, every body was just scared or didn’t like him because he was a homeless, big, and black kid who had a torn apart family. Even though Mike had always been a big intimidating kid, multiple reports of his childhood say that he would never hurt a fly if he had the chance. Not only was it bad that he had little to no friends at school, he also missed out on a lot of love at home. Michael said in an interview that every time his mom got high or drunk, she would begin to get angry at her kids for no reason by yelling at them which lead to physical abuse. Because she was the way that she turned out to be, Mike’s mother did not have a job to fully support her ten children family. She was able to put food on the table for the kids but Michael said that every time she went food shopping, there was hardly enough food for all of them, especially considering that their mother would eat most of it herself. The kids eventually learned to fight each other so they could get food for themselves and eat it quick before it gets robbed by another sibling. Later on in his life, him and his family all got split up by the government coming to the decision that the way that the family was living was not safe and so they either got put in a shelter, or with another family. Michael got put in a shelter. He never really liked it there because he was never used to being over treated by his guardians so he decided to leave and go live on the streets. It didn’t take long before a family named the Tuohy’s found him and went through the long process and took him under their arms. Michael was greatly blessed by his new family who saw his potential and pushed him to be a great person, honor student, athlete, and high school and college graduate. He excelled at being an amazing football player thanks to the determination of his new younger brother and himself. He was the star of his high school team, which gave him success, pride, and a family like bond with an entire football team. Oher went on to be a football player at The University of Mississippi which got him drafted in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft.
The story of Michael Oher is not only a true tear jerker, but an inspiration to anyone with a goal in life. His journey goes to show that even if you come from nothing but have people who love and care for you and have your back, you can be anything that you set your mind to. I Beat the Odds by Don Yaeger is a great book which tells an amazing story of a determined, passionate kid using great writing and interviews with family members of Mike and Mike himself.
No one at school ever liked Michael and never wanted to interact with him despite how nice of a person he really was. There was never a serious reason in why people did not like to talk to him, every body was just scared or didn’t like him because he was a homeless, big, and black kid who had a torn apart family. Even though Mike had always been a big intimidating kid, multiple reports of his childhood say that he would never hurt a fly if he had the chance. Not only was it bad that he had little to no friends at school, he also missed out on a lot of love at home. Michael said in an interview that every time his mom got high or drunk, she would begin to get angry at her kids for no reason by yelling at them which lead to physical abuse. Because she was the way that she turned out to be, Mike’s mother did not have a job to fully support her ten children family. She was able to put food on the table for the kids but Michael said that every time she went food shopping, there was hardly enough food for all of them, especially considering that their mother would eat most of it herself. The kids eventually learned to fight each other so they could get food for themselves and eat it quick before it gets robbed by another sibling. Later on in his life, him and his family all got split up by the government coming to the decision that the way that the family was living was not safe and so they either got put in a shelter, or with another family. Michael got put in a shelter. He never really liked it there because he was never used to being over treated by his guardians so he decided to leave and go live on the streets. It didn’t take long before a family named the Tuohy’s found him and went through the long process and took him under their arms. Michael was greatly blessed by his new family who saw his potential and pushed him to be a great person, honor student, athlete, and high school and college graduate. He excelled at being an amazing football player thanks to the determination of his new younger brother and himself. He was the star of his high school team, which gave him success, pride, and a family like bond with an entire football team. Oher went on to be a football player at The University of Mississippi which got him drafted in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft.
The story of Michael Oher is not only a true tear jerker, but an inspiration to anyone with a goal in life. His journey goes to show that even if you come from nothing but have people who love and care for you and have your back, you can be anything that you set your mind to. I Beat the Odds by Don Yaeger is a great book which tells an amazing story of a determined, passionate kid using great writing and interviews with family members of Mike and Mike himself.
Amazing story!
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