Where There Is Kindness, There Is Goodness

Author’s Note: The next few meditations will be from a retreat I directed recently called The Good News According to Disney. If you aren’t familiar with the films that are referenced, I’d suggest to take time to see them and to look for the deeper meaning within them.

Many people today still live by the biblical adage “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” They actually believe that they will be at peace if they achieve revenge or restitution for any mishap that has befallen them at the hands of another. They believe they will reclaim their personal power once they have achieved their revenge, but this is impossible.

Disney’s Cinderella (2015) reveals the true secret to owning one’s personal power and to retaining it no matter what we experience in life: “Have courage and be kind.” On the surface this motto looks a bit simple and wimpy. But in reality, it holds great power. That power comes from the heart of a person, or in this case Ella, who sees the world not as it is, but as it could be with a little courage, kindness and magic.

To see the world as it could be is the very vision of God. And it’s very obvious that Ella, through the promptings of her mother, has learned to live the essential Christian message: “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Love provides us with the courage we need to face adversity while remaining kind. As Ella’s Fairy Godmother says “Where there is kindness, there is goodness. And where there is goodness, there is magic,” or as I’d prefer to say “there is grace.”

One of the best examples of this is the scene where Ella first meets her Fairy Godmother, who is disguised as an old beggar woman. Ella has just had her dream of attending the Prince’s Ball shattered by her step-mother. She drops down on her knees near a fountain and cries “Mother forgive me. I said I’d have courage, but I don’t. I don’t believe anymore.”

Suddenly she hears a voice in the distance. It appears to be a poor old woman. She gently asks Ella if she could spare some milk and a few crumbs of bread. Ella, through her great love, regains her composure and her courage to move beyond her own personal tragedy, and in her great kindness, she fetches a cup of milk for the beggar.

Ella then discovers that the old woman is indeed her Fairy Godmother, and that through her great love, kindness and courage, she will be blessed to have her dream come true: She is indeed going to the ball— and in high fashion! Through living her mother’s dying wish— to have courage and be kind— Ella has gained great wisdom and a power that is able to sustain her through every tragedy she faces.

 She has faced the loss of both her mother and her father with great courage. She has also withstood the horrendous treatment she has received from her step-mother and step-sisters. She has done this by speaking-up for herself and attempting to set boundaries, but she has remained obedient to her step-mother. And she has treated everyone in the household with great kindness, no matter how they have treated her.

Ella’s greatest personal test of courage comes, however, after the Ball when she is forced to face the Prince— Kit— not as a princess, but as a servant girl: “Was who she was, who she really was, enough? There was no magic to help her this time. This is perhaps the greatest risk any of us will take: To be seen as we truly are.” Ella has courage enough to believe in herself and in the power of true love; and so she presents herself to the Prince as she truly is in that moment— Cinderella. She asks him to accept her as she is and he does. He then humbly asks her to accept him as he is and she does. He is able to be humble because of what he has already learned from Ella: “Have courage and be kind.”

Recovery requires that we have a great deal of courage. We foremost have to have the courage to change ourselves. And we must be able to change ourselves for the better through great patience and kindness toward ourselves. The kinder we are to ourselves, the kinder we will be to others. Through courage and kindness, we can cultivate a healthy love for ourselves and for others; and we can do this by the grace of our Higher Power, who is always present to help us help ourselves.

Dear Lord, help me to see the world as it could be through the eyes of courage and kindness. I am good enough to be loved and valued just the way I am. We are all equal. I forgive those who have hurt me for I now see them as needed teachers in my life. Please help me to shine, Lord, with the natural beauty of courage and kindness. Amen