Do The Right Thing

Paige and I watched a movie yesterday called Flipped.  It was set in the early 70's about a 13 year old girl who had a crush on the boy who lived across the street.

I thought it was going to be another one of those flippant "I love him so much,  why doesn't he love me?" kind of movies, where the girl and another girl battle over the boy, and the girl who had a better character would win the boy.

And it was kind of like that, except it wasn't.  The main character, Julie, was wise for her age.  She did things the right way -- focusing on helping others, working hard, and being brave even when the grown-ups wanted her to do otherwise.

Her crush, on the other hand, was a coward.  He said and did things that would make himself look better, even though after he did these things, he felt like crap about himself.  He knew what he wanted to say, what the right thing to do was, yet he still went with the masses.

After Julie recognized this about him, she didn't have a crush anymore.  She didn't even care, one way or another.

Guess what happened?  The boy fell for her, finally seeing how solid her character really was, and he tried to get her to like him again - - by giving her things, telling her things he thought she wanted to hear. . .

She called him a coward, told him to figure it out, and remained solid in her character.

Great movie.

In the end, he figured it out; stood up to his father, who was a big piece of skewed-moral-compass-shit, and got her in the end.

Paige and I were glued to the TV.  There was no sex, no cell phones, no crazy hair, make-up, or mini-skirt-wearing-blondes-who-cracked-their-gum.

After it was over, Paige said, "I want to be like that girl. . . doing the right thing, even though others may look at her oddly."

"Me too."  I said.

"You are, Mommy.  But I think I'm more like the boy - - worried about what others think, and not sticking up for others because I am afraid."

"You'll get there.  We all have to learn.  Just keep her in mind, and see how much better she felt at all times than he did."

"Yeah, he felt lousy because he knew what was right, but ignored it."

"A lot of people do that."

So before bed, I heard Paige praying, asking for help to not be a coward and to always do the right thing.

It ain't easy for any of us, but I think she's on the right track. . .