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A Walk in My Shoes
on NBC
By Ally Matteodo
The third installment in NBC’s Family Movie Night collection sponsored and
produced by Walmart and Procter and Gamble, A Walk in My Shoes, aired this past
Friday night, December 3rd, at 8:00 p.m. ET, and wins the title of
Best TV Show of the Week. Nancy Travis stars as an overwrought high-school
English teacher named Trish Fahey, who is tough on students and parents alike.
When superstar basketball player Justin Kremer fails to hand in a paper on time,
Fahey refuses to give him another pass, issuing instead an incomplete, which
gets him suspended from the team. Justin’s mother, Cindy Kremer, a struggling
waitress, arrives late for a meeting with Fahey. She begs for a second chance
for her son, who in addition to basketball works another job to pay the bills,
but Fahey won’t listen, telling Kremer she needs to stop mollycoddling Justin
and “be the mother.” Writing Kremer off as a lackadaisical, spotty parent,
Fahey leaves the parking lot, but suffers an accident while driving home.
Molly, an angel, appears to her while her head rests against the airbag,
informing her that her life is going to change drastically within the next few
minutes. Once at the hospital, Fahey quickly realizes that although she looks
the same, her identity is changed: she is now living the life of Cindy Kremer.
Assuming her new role, Fahey quickly realizes the many difficulties of Cindy
Kremer’s life. Kremer’s husband, a Marine, died three years earlier in Fallujah
while serving his country, and she is now facing eviction. Fahey slowly
realizes her mistakes—she wasn’t really listening, not really seeing. She
gently coaxes Justin to write his paper, the topic of which is difficult for
Justin because it asks the writer to describe the moment in time that has
affected their life the most. For Justin, this was the death of his father, and
the fact that the last words Justin said to him were, “I hate you.” After
writing the paper and turning it in, Justin returns to the basketball team, and
makes the winning shot in his next game. At that moment, Fahey returns to her
former life, a changed woman. She decides to take the money she saved with her
husband for a trip to Italy and give it to the Kremers for a one year payment on
their rent.
This movie
teaches the power of compassion. In our bustling lives, it’s easy to suffer from
tunnel-vision, just as Trish Fahey does. 24 hours in the day doesn’t seem to be
enough, especially during the holidays, and ironically, a time that should
reflect the best of human nature can instead devolve into a unilateral quest to
achieve one’s own agenda at the expense of others. We want the best for
ourselves and our immediate family, certainly, and it’s easy to write others off
as incompetent and flawed when they fail us—Cindy Kremer is late for a meeting
with Fahey and Fahey assumes she is not respectful of others’ time, instead of
noticing her frazzled appearance and barely running vehicle. In an age of
distrust, many might advise taking this skeptical stance when regarding others,
but this movie advises the smarter prescription: listen. If you open your eyes
and heart to others, your heart will soften towards those who need compassion,
and unimaginably wonderful things will come your way.
Parents Television Council,
www.parentstv.org, PTC,
Clean Up TV Now, Because our children are watching, The
nation's most influential advocacy organization, Protecting
children against sex, violence and profanity in
entertainment, Parents Television Council Seal of Approval,
and Family Guide to Prime Time Television
are trademarks of the Parents Television Council.
