The Tortoise Vs the Hare

My kids have a flare for acting - as for me, I never enjoyed being on stage, but I certainly do enjoy watching a good play! This year my elementary kids got to participate in the Missoula children's theater. They put on the story of the tortoise and the hare and as is usual there was a moral to the story. 

The story opened up with a division between the reptiles and the mammals. As the story progressed the two groups learned to appreciate one another's differences and actually began to associate one with another. I had four little actors in the play. A reporter, an artist, and two reptiles.

Here is the cast making silly faces. They put the whole play together in 4-5 days and did a fabulous job!

I love the moral to this story. Through theatrical expression everyone who participated learned that there is good in everyone, we just have to be willing to look for and find it. Once we do that our lives are richer and our associations are more diversified. It is never fun living as though enemies, particularly when in close proximity to one another, it is always better to look past faults, disagreements and preconceived notions to the goodness that others possess. Acceptance is always preferable to rejection, and when we actively reject others we lose something too. 

I believe that the moral of this play came from the teachings of the Savior, who gave what we often call the golden rule.

In the Tortoise verses the Hare it came down to something like "Accept others the way you would like to be accepted by them." I have found that acceptance is so much easier to give because we cannot change anyone but ourselves, and dwelling on the imperfections of others makes us critical and, simply put, not fun to be around. Giving acceptance allows others to be who they are, make the choices they feel are best for them and keeps the lines of communications open and free of baggage. What a blessing acceptance is, both on the giving and on the receiving ends!