Happy Endings

Last time the class met, the topic of how much wishful thinking should be encouraged through media. If you ask me, this is a huge can of worms begging to be opened. We want to be honest with kids, but cutting out all forms of hopeful thinking is a ridiculous approach. Telling a kid that there is no such thing as a happy ending is just as much of a lie as telling them a fairy godmother will fix all of their problems for them. So, instead of telling them either of those things, I think it is more important to find a middle ground between the two. Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is something that I think will positively affect someone. It’s easy to say that these endings are simply not how things work out in real life; that there are no happy endings in the real world and that the sooner children come to terms with that, the better. However, I think that is a very cynical view on the world. Sure, there are no fairy godmothers that appear every time things don’t go our way, but God does look out for us. And yeah

, endings aren’t always “happy,” but chances are, they aren’t tragic ones either. There is no such thing as being so far gone that you can’t make your way back to the top and there is no such thing as too much hope. Yes, bridges can be burnt and relationships can take a turn for the worst, but I refuse to believe that it is wrong to teach kids that it is okay to hope for the best.