Choose Kindness, Always

Have you watched the movie, Wonder?

It's a story of a boy named August Pullman or Auggie who was born with facial differences as compared to common kids. It circled on the time that he had to be enrolled into a normal school after years of being homeschooled by his Mom, who is played by Julia Roberts.

Here's the trailer of the movie:

Not being in a "normal" school before made Auggie feel petrified of how people would see and perceive him to be. But Auggie is an intelligent kid, he loves Science and he loves to play games and be friends with kids like him.

He became friends with one of his classmates named Summer Dawson, when she sat next to him during lunch when nobody wants to sit with him on the first day of school. Summer is popular in the school but despite this, she doesn't always do the conventional thing that popular people do in school. It was during the lunch of the first day of school that they became instantly connected thinking that their names kinda relate because both of their names have something to do with summer. From then on, Auggie and Summer eat lunch together.

Another student who became close to Auggie is Jack Will. He was one of the students who were tasked to meet Auggie even before the start of the school to give him a tour around and make him become more familiar with the facilities. Jack Will does not love school as much as Auggie. He only likes certain subjects like PE and computer, lunch, and recess. Auggie helped him with his subjects, and because of that, they hang out a lot even after school.

Though Auggie gained friends, there are some who became his bullies. One of which is Julian Albans. Julian is rude to Auggie and encourages other kids to feel the same way as him. He is popular in school and is very well protected by his parents, as he is an only child. His popularity in school is like his trophy, it means a lot to him that this also became a reason for him to be mean to Auggie.

Auggie has a big sister named Via (Olivia) Pullman. Via is a great older sister, however, she sometimes feel that she is not as important as her borther Auggie. She feels like her Grans (Grandma) is the only one who sees her as special in the family, but her Grans already passed away. Even when she feels this way, she is still protective of her brother, she is a great sister and friend to Auggie.

Auggie's parents are Isabel and Nate Pullman, played by Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson, respectively. Isabel is a loving mother of two, who gave up her career as a children's book illustrator to attend to Auggie's homeschooling. Nate Pullman, Auggie's dad is a businessman and head of the school board. Despite having these enormous responsibilities, he always makes his family a priority. He is a loving dad who can make them all laugh, to lighten everyone's spirits.

I would like to share with you my key takeways from the movie, Wonder.

• Being different doesn't mean being difficult. You are different, you are unique, sometimes you might think of yourself less than the others. There are people who are more intelligent that you are, more artistic, more creative, more logical, more fluent, etc. You may have deformities not only in your physical appearance but may be in other aspects, but that doesn't give you automatic reasons to be difficult as a person. You always have to look at life in many perspectives, and choose the one that would make you happy and feeling less stressed (or none at all!).

• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Cliche as it may sound, but this is true in all angles. How do you define beauty can say so much about your character. Ask yourself, what is your standard of beauty? Is it in good skin? Make up? Sexy body? I hope that you perceive beauty beyond that. Beauty makes much more sense if it is coming from the inside, your character in how you treat people.

• Stand up for yourself. Stand up for others. One of the key themes of the movie is how Auggie stood up from his bullies. It is difficult to do that, but sometimes, you really gotta try. You should not be silent because nobody has the right to look down on you. If you see someone being bullied, don't just be an spectator, be an ally of the victim, do something about it. (Be like Summer!)

• Don't hide. Be yourself. There's no other person who can become you except you. Be whoever you want to be, and you will realize that you are more than enough. You do not need to imitate other people, or hide under the sheets of your blanket - show to the world who you really are, and accept you for who you are. The world will see you and accept you, after you do.

• Choose kindness, always. On the first day of Auggie's homeroom class, his teacher discussed a precept that their class should be obeying. Summer read this as written on the board: "When given the choice of being right or being kind, choose kind." Oftentimes, when we are in a heated argument, the tendency is for us to defend ourselves, show the other party that we are right, and they are wrong. Prove to them by telling them hard facts, so on and so on... I'm not saying that you should just stay silent, what I'm saying is for you to be kind. Kind means not being rude. Kind means being considerable and understanding. Kind means listening to the other party's argument/plight.

So, when you're in a situation where you are to choose whether you'd be right or be kind, choose KIND....always.

Thanks for reading!