Precious is the name of the movie inspired by the book Push by Sapphire. The story is a poetic novel written in the first person of the narrator, Claireece Precious Jones who faces seemingly insurmountable odds.

The movie is being produced by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry known for his great story telling of human experiences rooted in the African American community. As is true of the signature pieces of both Ms Winfrey and Mr Perry the story seems specific, but the theme is universal. 

To realize it is universal you would have to remove the distraction of race and location. You would have to close your eyes and hear the words that the lead character speaks when she says, “I wanna say I am somebody. I wanna say it on subway, TV, movie, LOUD. I see the pink faces in suits look over top of my head. I watch myself disappear in their eyes, their tesses. I talk loud but still I don’t exist.”

When I read that, I nodded in silence because that was in essence why I had become a teen doc. I could tell when I was in the clinic room with my patients and their parents. Their parents did not always understand what they were saying. I have worked in the hood, the suburbs, the not so suburbs, conversed in English, Spanish, with help Tagalog, Punjabi, Chinese all the same. The barriers to interpreting your teen’s behavior and communicating with your teen can create such a chasm between parents and their teens that teens want to shout real loud, “I am somebody!”

This is what I do.  So you can imagine my excitement when reading Precious say, “I is ready. Ready for school. School something (this nuthin’!). School gonna help me get out dis house.” In one way or another, I try and tell my teens this. There are some who know this and some who are so distracted by what others have told them, they are in too great a fog to appreciate this. Like Precious’ teacher Blue Rain, I try and tell them this.

When teens leave my clinic, when they come back and say, “Hi,” when they call or e-mail or see me at Target and say, “Hey, I’m doing…things are better…I’m going to…” There is a happiness that was the same when I read Precious say, “I got self, pencil, and notebook. Can I get a Witness! I’m outta here!”

Go see Precious or read Push by Sapphire and help a teen close to you exist.

Related posts:

1. Your Teen’s Self-love
2. Your Teen’s First Real Love
3. Does Your Teen Hate School?