A Flower Girl or a Lady...what will she be?

Living in Southern Oregon is such a privilege!  I have the opportunity to inhabit this beautiful valley--with four distinct seasons--and hike the ridges to breathtaking vistas.  But the activity that gives me the most fun is attending plays and musicals at the various theatres we have in this area.  The Hercules of these venues is, of course, OSF--Oregon Shakespeare Theatre.

Last summer I saw My Fair Lady twice!  While the entire musical was wonderful, my heart keeps zeroing in on one scene.  Eliza tries so hard to follow the instructions of Professor Higgins.  He doesn't recognize her perseverance.  He is insulting and rude.  His only focus is hearing his version of perfection of the English language.

In a conversation with Colonel Pickering Eliza says that Professor Higgins will always see her as a guttersnipe, but she has learned about manners from the Colonel, and now realizes it is how a person is treated that makes her a lady.  "The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated.  I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will, but I know I can be a lady to you, because you always treat me as a lady, and always will." 

And because I can't leave well enough alone and just sit and enjoy, I log that statement in my brain, take it home, write it down (before it goes the way of other things I forget) and ponder it.  It's certainly not a new thought--it's a value that we emphasize in social work education--the strengths-based model.   But it's still a good reminder coming in a most enjoyable way.

Goodness is about character--integrity,

honesty, kindness, generosity, moral

courage, and the like.   More than

anything else, it is about how we

treat other people.

                            ---Dennis Prager