Honoring the life of Sidney Poitier (1927-2022)

Sometime in the past year, this 1950 film starring Sidney Poitier at 23 years old was brought to my attention.  The only version I could find to post here has Arabic subtitles.  

*

On our true selves

JOHN SPRINGER COLLECTIONGETTY IMAGES

Speaking to Oprah in 2000, Poitier shared his philosophy on our many personas: "We all have different selves: There is a public self, a private self and a core self. We all know the public self—it's how we put our best foot forward, smiling and behaving. But the private self is a more fundamental self, and that is where we find our frailties, our fears. It's like a clearinghouse where our demons are safe. Then there's the core self, which is our pure instinct. That's where all our goodness and capacity for kindness lives. You can feel it sometimes. When people say, 'I feel it in my stomach,' that's the core self. Our best comes from there, and we know how courageous and honorable we are. The core self is who we are," Poitier said.