Hey Pinocchio, Recovery Requires Strick Honesty!

Disney’s Pinocchio takes on the theme of developing an informed conscience. If we are to be honest with ourselves and with others—as recovery requires us to be-- we need to know how to judge right from wrong and how to be responsible for the negative consequences of our own behavior.

In many ways Pinocchio represents the typical child. We witness his birth shortly after Geppetto, his creator, wishes on a star for Pinocchio to become a real boy. The Blue Fairy appears and grants his wish. Pinocchio becomes animated and alive and yet he is not yet a real boy. Why? Because he has yet to develop a conscience. So Jiminy Cricket is called upon to act as a conscience for Pinocchio.

We all go through the human process of developing an informed conscience. At a young age we begin the process of learning the difference between right and wrong, kind and mean-spirited, sharing and hoarding. Some of these moral choices are taught to us, but many of them we must learn for ourselves through lived experience. This is how we gain wisdom; through the process of making mistakes and then being responsible for fixing our own mistakes. Active addicts rarely take responsibility for their own errors. They are always looking for someone else to blame and they want that someone else to be responsible for rescuing them.

The first lesson Pinocchio learns is the difference between putting one’s self first and putting someone else first. Geppetto sends Pinocchio off to his first day of school. Along the way, Pinocchio runs into Honest John, who is anything but honest. Pinocchio represents a goldmine to Honest John, who realizes he can sell Pinocchio to master puppeteer Stromboli for a small fortune. So, despite Jiminy Cricket’s objections, John persuades Pinocchio to leave school and Geppetto behind and to become a famous actor with Stromboli’s show.

As a result, Pinocchio becomes an overnight sensation, but at a tremendous cost: Not only is he held prisoner by Stromboli, but he causes Geppetto tremendous anguish. Luckily for Pinocchio, the Blue Fairy hears his cries and comes to his rescue. But even then, Pinocchio has much to learn about right and wrong. When asked by the Blue Fairy how he came to be imprisoned, Pinocchio tells a series of lies. With each lie, Pinocchio’s nose grows larger as a sign that lying has negative consequences. The most serious consequence for Pinocchio is that lies will keep him from becoming a real boy. The Blue Fairy has told him “Prove yourself brave, truthful and unselfish and you will be a real boy.”

I said “luckily” the Blue Fairy came to Pinocchio’s rescue, but in many ways Pinocchio would have been better off if he had been forced to figure out a way to rescue himself.  He learned nothing because the Blue Fairy took responsibility for the bad consequences that Pinocchio should have faced himself. He gets “off the hook” easily and, as a result, he quickly gets swept up in the enticements of pleasure. Instead of finding Geppetto, Pinocchio goes off to Pleasure Island where he thinks life will be grand, but he’s really being trapped into a slave market where little boys are turned into donkeys.

It’s this third failure of conscience that finally brings redemption to Pinocchio. This is the one time that the Blue Fairy does not come to his rescue and he must take responsibility for his own bad behavior. He finally gains enough wisdom to know right from wrong and that he must rescue Geppetto, who is held hostage by Monstro, the whale. In the process of saving Geppetto, Pinocchio sacrifices his own life.

Because Pinocchio finally became responsible through his informed conscience, he exercised bravery, truth and selflessness in placing Geppetto’s life above his own. The Blue Fairy then returns and brings Pinocchio back to life and in the process he becomes a real boy at last.

In what ways have you kept yourself from becoming real or authentic? Are there ways that you can work on becoming more vulnerable (brave) and honest with yourself and others? Do you take responsibility for your own mistakes, or do you look for someone else to rescue you from the negative consequences of your own behavior? Do you blame others for your mistakes?

Dear Lord, becoming real means I must learn to be completely honest with myself and others. Authenticity requires vulnerability, however, and I am very afraid of exposing myself to ridicule and rejection if I honestly present myself to the world. Help me to see that honesty is always in my best interest as long as it’s tempered with kindness. Honesty ensures that I am responsible for my own behavior, including my mistakes, from which I gain wisdom when I am brave enough to face and fix them myself. Amen.