Our Inner Misfits

     I so loved he movie "The Greatest Showman" the first time I saw it that I had to go and see it again, which I did the day before yesterday.
         And I was glad I did because I not only loved the movie even better upon the second viewing: the story, the characters, the music, the singing, the spectacular choreography,

...the dazzling computer-generated graphics;

...but also because I picked up on some plot details, some foreshadowing, some good lines the second time around that I'd missed the first time.
     And also because, during the second viewing, it occurred to me what the real appeal of this movie is: it's that this is a story that calls to one's inner misfit.
      "The Greatest Showman" is the  tale a social misfit, portrayed in the character of P.T. Barnum, who raises himself up then seeks out other misfits and raises them up, gives them a life in which they are capable and confident, lovable and loved, part of a circle where they finally fit in. 

     I believe that many of us who appear to - and for the most part do - fit in  perfectly fine within our society still harbor an inner misfit. It's this inner misfit that directs us to seek out friendships, find a group that accepts us as one of its own, seek affirmation, look for love. Our inner misfit is existentially lonely and longs to belong.
     A person's inner misfit can lead them to be empathetic to the misfit in others, to embrace diversity and social justice, to have a heart for the suffering, the downtrodden, the left-out, or make them feel so insecure that they seek to raise themself up by bringing someone else down,

...or so fearful that they'll seek out someone else to label as a misfit, someone else to bully, to marginalize, to victimize, to oppress;

...because accepting other misfits would require admitting to the misfit in oneself, and if all men and women were created flawed but equal then who would an insecure misfit  have look down on?

    One's inner misfit can give a person emotional intelligence,

...or it can make make them mean.

     And that's the real story told in "The Greatest Showman."

    

     "Equal and Opposite            Reactions"
by Patti Liszkay
Buy it at Amazon http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
or check it out from
The Columbus Metropolitan Library