Fighting Our Villains

Who would play you in the movie of your life? Reese Witherspoon, Ashton Kutcher, Emma Watson, Will Smith, or maybe Kevin Costner? More importantly, who plays the villain in the movie of your life? Or maybe let’s consider who the villain is in our life. Throughout life, we cross paths with hundreds of different people, some of whom are not intended to be our lifelong sidekicks or wise prophecies… sometimes these people are sent into our lives to challenge us.  

When most of us think about the villain in our lives, we may consider someone who was a bully to us, who does not value our contributions to the world, or maybe someone who is upset that you parked in their favorite parking spot. Villains can be very different to all of us, and some of us may find that the villain in our lives isn’t really a person at all. Whether our villain is a bully or our own lack of self-confidence, the more we understand our Villains, the better we can adapt our own actions to turn a negative situation around.  

One of my all-time favorite movies is the new Disney movie, “Cruella.” The movie tells the story of the infamous, fashionable villain, Cruella De Ville, from the classic Disney movie “101 Dalmatians.” Throughout the story, we come to understand Cruella De Ville by exploring her past, and all the events that occurred prior to her dognapping days in “101 Dalmatians.” However, the part of the movie that I love the most is how deeply we can begin to understand why Cruella is driven to the actions that she takes during 101 Dalmatians by exploring her past. When we are willing to see our villains as real people and legitimate internal struggles, and not just monsters, we can quickly turn a negative situation into a positive situation.  

When faced with a villain in our lives, we as main characters should choose to understand our villain, rather than fight against them. Why do the fairytale princesses never make friends with the dragons? Or why do the brave warriors never stop to consider conversation with the enemy before charging into battle?  

Fear.  

Fear can drive us to do crazy things, or it can drive us to not do crazy things. If I was personally tasked with battling a dragon, I can ensure that I would opt for a flight option over a fight option… but what if we considered the other option… understanding. Did anyone ever stop to ask the dragon why they were upset? Did anyone ever take the time to ask Darth Vader about his feelings? Do we ever stop to ask ourselves why we are feeling down? 

Fearing others, or our own personal struggles, can stand as a barrier between us and the happiness that we all desire in our lives. When we are willing to let go of the fear of our villains and begin to break down barriers, we can better understand the friction within our relationships, with others and ourselves. Let go of the fear and start the conversation with yourself, or others.  

Love always,

2021-2022 State President