After seven consecutive weekends on the road, I was glad to be home last Saturday. I decided to spend the rainy day reading, relaxing and watching TV. With few exceptions, I rarely watch television. However, when I scrolled through the cable menu and saw that “Lean on Me,” starring Morgan Freeman as “Crazy” Joe Clark, was about to be aired on A&E, I became as excited as someone watching the movie for the first time

“Lean on Me” is my favorite movie. I’ve seen it dozens of times since it came out in 1989 and each time, I have had to fight back tears. It’s not that I was unfamiliar with the ending – that’s always the same. I find the movie so touching because with tough-love, determination and a genuine belief in the abilities of his students, Clark turns around a decaying, drug-infested Eastside High School in New Jersey.

After asking instructors for a list of troublemakers, the Joe Clark character calls a school assembly.

“I want all of you to take a good look at these people on the risers behind me,” Clark says, as the students behind him continue to misbehave. “These people have been here up to five years and done absolutely nothing. These people are drug dealers and drug users. They have taken up space; they have disrupted school; they have harassed your teachers; and they have intimidated you. Well, times are about to change. You will not be bothered in Joe Clark’s school.”

The students on stage remain unruly, but not for long.

“These people are incorrigible,” Clark says. “And since none of them could graduate anyway, you are all expurgated. You are dismissed! You are out of here forever! I wish you well.”

A line of security guards show those on stage to the door, some of them forcibly.

Turning to the remaining students, Clark says: “Next time it may be you. If you do no better than they did, next time it will be you.”

After “expurgating” Eastside High of the miscreants, Clark explains his goal.

“My motto is simple: If you do not succeed in life, I don’t want you to blame your parents. I don’t want you to blame the White man! I want you to blame yourselves! The responsibility is yours!

“In two weeks we have a practice exam and a minimum skills test on April 13th. That’s a hundred and ten school days from now. But it’s not just about those test scores. If you do not have these basic skills, you will find yourselves locked out. Locked out of that American Dream that you see advertised on TV – that they tell you is so easy to get.”

For the three people who still have not seen the movie, I won’t give away the ending except to say it was a dramatic and happy one.

After my 2-hour movie, I knew the opening game of the playoff series between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Washington Wizards would be less intense. And the basketball game proved to be just that. The only real question was how well LeBron James would perform in his first playoff game. In retrospect, that question should not have been raised, given James’ stellar performance.

It was the half-time profile of Wizards Star Gilbert Arenas that tugged at the heart. Best known for throwing his jersey into the stands after each game, Arenas has a tender side. The captain of the Wizards has become the self-appointed big brother of Andre McAllister, a 10-year-old and sole survivor of a fire last December in Washington that killed the boy’s mother, twin sister, great-grandfather and cousin. Arenas spends time with McAllister, got him a job as a ballboy for the basketball team and remains devoted to helping shape his future. He has already made plans for the youth to attend college and says McAllister is the brother he never had.

Watching “Lean on Me” and the clip about Arenas brought back memories of Robert L. Glynn, the head of McKenzie Court, my housing projects in Tuscaloosa, Ala. He spent countless days telling me and others that we could accomplish anything that we set our mind to. He told us of his poor upbringing, letting us know in the process that we, too, could overcome that barrier. I’ll always remember the stories he told me about filling holes in his shoes with newspapers and how he worked his way through what is now Alabama State University.

Sometimes we forget just how much of an impact we as individuals can have on the lives of our youth. And if there were ever a time to exert that influence, it’s now.