IndexHierarchy of needs of the blind sideThe Tuohy familySelf-actualizationReferences:Hierarchy of needs of the blind sideThe story of Michael OherThe Blind Side is a film based on reality the life story of the former tackle Carolina Panthers left wing Michael Oher and the Tuohy family. Michael played with the Panthers for two seasons and was a member of the team that played in Super Bowl 50. Before joining the Panthers, Oher spent five seasons with the Baltimore Ravens and one season with the Tennessee Titans. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original EssayMichael grew up in the “Hurt Village” housing projects with his mother and 11 siblings in Memphis, Tennessee. Her birth mother struggled with a severe drug and alcohol addiction that made it nearly impossible for her to care for all 12 of her children. Michael's biological father was not involved in his life. At the age of 8 Michael was removed from his mother's care by social services and separated from his siblings. For most of his childhood, Oher lived in foster care with different families. Michael continued to run away every time he was placed with a new family and eventually became homeless around the age of 15 or 16. During this time Michael attended several schools in the Memphis area. His life began to change when his friend's father spoke to Burt Cotton, the football coach at Wingate Christian School. He wanted Coach Cotton to help his son and Michael enroll at Wingate. Coach Cotton was impressed with Oher's size and athletic ability. Despite his poor grades, he managed to get Michael into school. The Blind Side is a story that follows Oher's life from being a homeless runaway to becoming a member of the Tuohy family and finally making it to the NFL. The Tuohy Family The Tuohy family includes husband and wife Sean and Leigh Ann. They have two children, a daughter, Collins and a son, SJ. Sean owns several fast food franchises and Leigh Ann is an interior designer. Collins and SJ attend Wingate Christian School. One evening, while the Tuohys' were headed to the gym to watch Collins play volleyball, Sean and Leigh Anne notice Michael getting off a city bus wearing a short-sleeved shirt and long shorts in the dead of winter as he heads out. to the school gym to warm up and shelter. Leigh Anne sees Michael again and asks him where he was headed. Michael doesn't have a home because he can no longer stay with his friend's family. Leigh Anne offers to let him spend the night at her house. Michael begins to bond with his new family. The Tuohys and Michael are a group of mismatched people who form a new family. Michael's large size, race, and the fact that he is from a poor part of town differ from his new white family with a large amount of money and living in the suburbs. Sean and Leigh Anne discover Michael's past and decide they want to help him improve his situation. They start slowly by giving him a permanent place to live. Leigh Anne takes Michael shopping for new clothes and gives him his own room with a bed, which Michael claims he has never had a bed of his own. The Tuohy family brings Michael into their home where he becomes part of their life. Sean and Leigh Anne eventually adopt Micahel making him an official member of the family. Michael's new family wanted him to feel like a true member of their family. It was important to Michael's parents that he be treated like his brothers and for his birthday they bought Michael a new pickup truck. Michael, with Leigh Anne's help, begins tobehave well on the football field. Leigh Anne took responsibility for making sure he had every opportunity to succeed. He went out of his way to help him, even giving advice to his football coach on how to best utilize Michael's skills. Leigh Anne hired Ms. Sue as a tutor for Michel to help him improve his grades so that he would qualify for an NCAA Division I track and field championship scholarship. With their help, Michael continued to attend Ole Miss. Michael graduated from college and became the initial pick of the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 NFL draft. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the Blind Side In the 1943 Psychological Review, a scientific journal, Abraham Maslow proposed in his article “A Theory of Human Motivation "a hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1943). Maslow's mission was to understand human motivation. He developed a list of basic human needs that needed to be met for maximum psychological health. Through his research he came to categorize a hierarchical list of needs that must be met for a person to truly enjoy life. He explained these levels in his 1954 book Motivation and Personality. Maslow used the terms "physiological", "safety", "belonging" and "love", "esteem", "self-actualization" and "self-transcendence" to describe the pattern through which human motivations generally move. (Maslow, A Theory of Human Motivation, 1943)Physiological Needs“Physiological needs such as breathing, food, drink, sleep, and sex are largely a biological and physical requirement. When they are not satisfied, people may be concerned primarily with satisfying those needs” (Maslow, 1987, pp. 15-17). In The Blind Side, Michael struggled with the basic physiological needs of life from an early age. Born to a poor mother who suffered from addiction, she struggled to provide Michael with the basic and constant needs of food, shelter and water. Throughout the film, Michael did everything necessary to provide for these essential needs, when he met the Tuohy family, they met these essential needs more consistently. This motivated Michael internally and helped him move to the next level, which is the security level. Safety Needs Once basic needs are satisfied, other needs invariably arise (Maslow, 1987, pp. 17-18). In Maslow's hierarchy, safety follows physiological needs. needs. Maslow used the word “safety” to mean more than just physical safety. Personal, emotional, financial, health and well-being security all fall into the second tier of human needs. When Leigh Anne showed Michael “her” fully furnished room, she left him completely shocked, Michael said: “I've never had one before… I've never had a bed before” (Hancock, 2009). This was the moment Michael developed a sense of security with his new family. It gave him the internal motivation to do whatever it took to keep his new family safe. This new sense of security was on full display when Michael and SJ were involved in an accident in Oher's new pickup truck. When the airbag deployed, Michael prevented it from hitting SJ directly in the face, saving his younger brother from further possible injury. When Leigh Anne arrives at the scene of the accident she finds Michael sitting on the pavement crying, when she asks him if he is okay he simply replies "I stopped him" referring to the airbag. Leigh Anne goes on to tell Michael that she loves him and is happy that he and SJ were okay. This moment in the film shows how Michael managed to reach the third level of the hierarchy that he is.