Our 4-year-old granddaughter is one who should never be considered a candidate for movie theater attendance. Each movie is given a running commentary from our little munchkin along with a verbal tornado of questions. One of the first things she needs to know is ‘who is the bad guy?’ It’s important to her to be able to identify which side each cast member is on. So yesterday when she and her grandfather were watching a movie, I wasn’t surprised to hear her ask this question. But I did find it surprising when she wouldn’t take his word for it. He had to justify his decision. “But, Grandpa, why is he the bad guy?” I had to smile listening to Grandpa explain that you could tell he was a bad guy because he was taking the little dog. That wasn’t good enough for her. “But, Grandpa, does he say bad words? Does he do bad things?” Grandpa fumbled on that one while I laughed. But even as I laughed I thought ‘You go, Little One. Don’t ever take someone’s word for it when they tell you ‘that’s the bad guy‘. You hang on to that concept!’

And I sincerely hope she does. As she gets old enough to go out in the neighborhood, I hope she thinks twice before excluding that neighbor girl the others won’t play with because she doesn’t have the right toys. And I hope that if she joins the ‘in’ crowd in school that she doesn’t exclude the one who has no money or who doesn’t wear the right clothes. And I hope, as she reaches adulthood, that she discriminates rightly. That she can recognize that a certain religion, a certain race, a certain way of thinking doesn’t necessarily make them the bad guy. It just make them different. I hope she shows the love and acceptance that is so needed in our world today. I DON’T want her to be politically correct or to be so unsure of herself that she can’t stand up for what she believes is right. I just want her to know and to recognize that God made us all a little different. If we were all the same, the world would be a boring place. It is the differences that make this world a truly beautiful place. And if we love and accept others and their differences, we will have made the world we live in a little more beautiful just by being in it.

Of course, having her in our world now has already made it a little more beautiful for us.