I watched the movie The Help...
...and as much as I enjoyed it, I think the thing that affected me the most wasn't what was supposed to affect me.
I know I was supposed to be thinking about civil rights and racial inequality and racism and classcism and the injustice and the haves and the have-nots, but what affected me most was this:
"You is kind. You is smart. You is important."
The words Aibileen repeated over and over to sweet Mae Mobley Leefolt, the little girl whose mother smacked her and never picked her up or showed her any attention or changed her diaper or loved her very much because, based on what Aibileen said, "It's a lonely road if a mama don't think their child is pretty."
What a Godsend that would be to have someone in a child's life who needed to hear that every day. That would make life better right from the start, to have someone say that to you, despite what everyone else did or said. You'd start to believe it.
I know the film is divisive, but that's what touched me most.
I know I was supposed to be thinking about civil rights and racial inequality and racism and classcism and the injustice and the haves and the have-nots, but what affected me most was this:
"You is kind. You is smart. You is important."
The words Aibileen repeated over and over to sweet Mae Mobley Leefolt, the little girl whose mother smacked her and never picked her up or showed her any attention or changed her diaper or loved her very much because, based on what Aibileen said, "It's a lonely road if a mama don't think their child is pretty."
What a Godsend that would be to have someone in a child's life who needed to hear that every day. That would make life better right from the start, to have someone say that to you, despite what everyone else did or said. You'd start to believe it.
I know the film is divisive, but that's what touched me most.