I am a happy father this morning.
Last night my daughter was showing me the Frozen decorations we bought for her birthday party. One of them, clearly designed by someone deep in the bowls of the marketing department who was just running on autopilot, displayed this message: “Follow Your Heart.”
“I’m disappointed they put that on there,” I said to Anya. “That’s not the lesson of the movie.”
“What was the lesson of the movie?” she asked.
“You remember,” I said. “Olaf tells Anna: Love means putting other people’s needs ahead of yours.” Then I added the gag from that scene: “You know, like Krisoff, who brought you here to Hans and left you forever!”
We giggled together over the joke, then I brought her attention back to the lesson: “Love means putting other people’s needs ahead of yours.” Not “follow your heart.”
She looked at the decoration in her hand.
She pondered for a moment.
Then she said:
“Well . . . they’re kind of the opposite, aren’t they?”
I am a happy father this morning.
🙂 Ah, moral reasoning! It really does develop best within relationships that model love.
(in this connection, one might see also http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/09/duty-and-delight )
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