A Good Line

Probably the best line I’ve heard in weeks came from my 7-year old daughter while attending the Broadway production, Wicked. As the story line unfolded, she/we were drawn into the drama. The “different” sister was being shaped into the outcast image by the meanness around her. Not a kind word or gracious gesture to be found. Hurt was mounting and Annika asks,

“Daddy. Why would she act wicked when she has a friend?”

All I could come up with in that moment was that, “she’s not wicked. She’s good. The people around her are making her out to be something she’s not.”

To my little girl, the power of words is only outweighed by the weight of relationship. We all have bad stuff, mean words, and failed attempts. But we still have a choice, if not responsibility. That choice to do the right thing or to like who you are, at least in the eyes of Annika, is more plausible with a good relationship.

How many of us have relationships that serve as personal barometers for conduct, speech, faith, and service? Relationship that help my attitude, discern my motivations, fuel my desire. I need relationships that encourage and challenge. Ones that bring out the best version of me but not feel I have to perform, either.

This sounds idyllic but, in looking for that in another, I’m realizing something in me. I’m learning who I need to become. And in this moment, Annika’s teaching me. Her question speaks of her reality. It’s how she lives and processes right from wrong, good and bad choices. It’s how she’s deciding who she wants to be in the schoolyard or in the classroom. She has a consistency about her that feels really natural (not obliged).

Oh, but from the mouths of babes…. She had a good line.