Growing up I learned not only through personal experience, trial and error, and self awareness but I often felt that I became more knowledgable or a better person because of the art of others.  So thinking back, what movies, songs, etc... inspired you, changed you, or simply moved you?

MOVIES (and I'll think of more)

1.  Dead Poet's Society - Taught me confidence, inspired me to be a teacher, made car pe diem part of who I am, taught how to trust my own voice, non conformity, having guts to ask the hot girl out, and so much more. No other movie changed my life for the better more than this one.

2.  Breakfast Club - Taught me to be less judgmental, to understand that most of us have more in common that we think, that

3.  Shawshank Redemption - Innocent people go to jail, brilliant movie start to finish

4.  Coming to America - One of my favorites.  A triumph of substance over image.

5.  Mary Poppins - Corny but it does teach you that when dealing with children, there is truly a better way than being too authoritarian.

6.  My Cousin Vinny - Learned more from this movie in 2 hours than I did in 2 years of law school.

7.  Mr. Holland's Opus - Another humbling teacher movie.

8.  Jerry McGuire - Actually I was narrow minded enough in which I would never date a single woman with a child prior to this movie.  That changed.


BOOKS

1.  The Road Less Traveled -  The level of understanding of self in this is transformational.
2.  Silent Spring - Still the definitive book on the environment.
3.  1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, - Books that exposed the evils of totalitarianism.
4.  It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis as well as Elmer Gentry and other works.
5.  The Jungle - Exposes working conditions of ultra right wing economics.


SONGS (no particular order after number 1)
1.  Basically anything by the Beatles, still the best group ever.
2.  Crosby Stills and Nash
3.  Carly Simon
4.  Carole King
5.  James Taylor
6.  Bee Gees


There are hundreds more to add to this list.  What are yours?