“Momma says, if you can’t say nuffin’ nice, don’t say nuffin’ at all.” ~ Thumper
How many times did my mother tell us, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all!” It was a constant mantra to her four boys who were all about scrapping and one-upping each other and all our friends. That’s pretty much the “style” of any child growing up. Insults, hurtful words, and other verbal assaults were often made. Be nice? Who wants to be nice? That won’t establish dominance.
That’s really what our early words and actions were all about: dominance. We wanted to be the ones in charge. We wanted to control our families and friends. We wanted to set the rules. We wanted to choose what we were going to do. Why? So that we could be the leader, for one, and so that we could make sure that we would come out ahead and be the winner.
It’s a tough world out there and you have to begin controlling it early. That was the unspoken theme of our early lives. Thank God that mom — and mothers and fathers throughout the world — are insistent on their children learning the real value of life: care, concern for others, compassion, love, and mercy, just to name a few.
Through their movies, Disney often reflects the world in which we live. Themes of violence and destruction (villains) as well as themes regarding hard work, perseverance, care, and concern (heroes and heroines) are all throughout their storylines. Thumper reminds us of “mom’s” advice, “If you can’t say nuffin’ nice, don’t say nuffin’ at all.”
Nuff said.
FAITH ACTION: Say nice, do nice, be nice today.