On Friday night, my sweet husband, Christopher took me to a movie. A movie of my choosing. He’s a keeper. We went to see the newest Cinderella adaptation, and after reading a few articles disparaging anything and everything about it, I felt I needed to share my thoughts. I’m not going to argue about it being anti-feminist, or glorifying skinny waists — I don’t want to get into that mess.
The recurring theme throughout the entire movie, “have courage and be kind” stuck with me, almost as if my heart has been pierced. I was so touched by those words, because it’s something I feel like I needed.
Having courage is a hard thing, at least the thought of it seems hard. When I think about something I need courage for, I think that it’s something I’ll never be able to achieve. But then a thought came to me. I believe that we are all inherently courageous beings, it’s just something we have to discover for ourselves.
As a child I learned that “kindness begins with me”. I didn’t really understand that as a five year old, singing a Primary song, but twenty years later, it has deeper meaning. Kindness does not mean that you allow others to abuse you in any way. Kindness means that you see someone as a human being, a child of God and you treat them with dignity. Kindness can be as simple as a smile, as complicated as forgiving someone who does not deserve it.
On Friday night, I walked out of that theatre not only feeling happy to have spent a lovely evening with my sweetheart, but I left with a resolve to do better, to be better. Have courage and be kind. Sometimes it really is just that simple.
