“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” -John 15:12
One of my favorite movies of the year is The Wild Robot. It’s an adaptation of the book by Peter Brown, the first in a three-part series. My daughters read the book in their 5th-grade classes and absolutely loved it – in fact, they loved the book more than the movie!
Roz is a robot who survives a shipwreck and finds herself confused, alone, and stranded on a remote, wild island. The island’s animal inhabitants ultimately view her as an outsider, but she gradually learns to adapt to her surroundings and forms unexpected friendships. She faces many conflicts with rugged terrain, various animals, and, eventually, even the outside world. This is a beautiful tale of acceptance, friendship, and what it means to care about others.
She discovers that all the different animals share one common language – they just speak it differently. Roz can accept others who are different. She demonstrates to us the true meaning of love and sacrifice. She also challenges the concept of family. Each family in the movie fends for their own family. She exemplifies that family and friendship are a give-and-take relationship. She shows we truly are dependent on each other to survive. Being kind and showing goodwill to all can be a survival skill and is a powerful strength to lean on.
This movie resonated with me on so many levels. It brought tears to my eyes at the end. As I sat waiting for people to exit the movie, I was overwhelmed with how this movie impacted me. It touched on so many facets of our daily lives: acceptance, friendship, connection, goodwill, peace, kindness, and the center of it all is always love.
This reminded me of a game we play at Christmas time called Saran Wrap Treasure Ball. You sit in a circle, and one person has 20 seconds to unravel as many treasures as they can. If the person to your left rolls doubles before the 20 seconds is up, it’s that person’s turn to unravel. The gifts start out smaller and get bigger or more expensive as you work your way to the center. The biggest gift of all is in the center.
If you turn it around and have love at the center of your heart – everything else falls into place or circles around it. Acceptance, friendship, connection, goodwill, peace, and kindness stem from love. The greatest gift is love. Love is the bond of all things.
We all have different upbringings, but through all of this, Roz not only shows us the importance of overcoming our programming but also that we can rewrite our programming, especially if it means helping one another survive by showing kindness despite our differences.
There is so much more to this beautiful story that I didn’t share with you for spoiler reasons. I hope you go watch this movie and have a similar reaction to mine.
Jamie Williamson, Edmond Campus Director of Administration
