Every year on Christmas Eve, my family would watch Ron Howard’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, narrated by Anthony Hopkins, stars Jim Carrey. Every year I learn something new. This year is about compassion and inclusion.
The Grinch was an outcast, the misfit of Whoville. An incident in school left a scar on his heart that made him resent both Christmas and the inhabitants of Whoville until six-year-old Cindy Lou changed all that.
An encounter with the Grinch at her father’s post office changed how Cindy Lou thought about him. She decided to invite the outcast to join the Christmas celebration. The mayor of Whoville resented the idea, and so was the Grinch. He tried his best to sabotage the tradition by stealing trees and presents. After losing everything, the Whos realized that presents and competitions weren't as nearly important as their family and relationships with each other, they showed resilience by celebrating the Whos instead. The Grinch learned a lesson.
Cindy Lou's compassion towards the Grinch moved me. It's easy to believe that Cindy Lou's compassion alone brought the Grinch back into the community, but it's not. It was the Whos who recognized and shifted the community culture from materialism and competition to caring for each other that made the sustainable change.
Inclusion is possible when both individual and collective have a shared reality and goal.
Merry Christmas.
