When I became a mom, I gained a whole new perspective on classic western fairy tales.

Because when I read to my children, I think about how a story is forming their story, how it’s forming and informing their lives.

And do I really want to read my little girl stories about ugly old witches that want to kill young women just because the young women are beautiful? Um… No.

What does that story tell about old women? And young women? And what does it say about relationships between women? OMG. That is not what I want for me and my little girl.

I want her to be valued for her heart and mind, not just for her external beauty. And when I’m an old woman, I want to be wise with my own beautiful, well-earned wrinkles. And I want to teach my daughter (and my son too) that women love and support each other.

And in that story (Snow White), the men have one of two jobs: that of killer or provider. The hunter’s job is to hunt down Snow White and kill her. The prince’s job is to rescue and support Snow White. OMG. That is not what I want for my husband and my little boy.

I want my son to be valued for his heart and mind, not just for his ability to fight or provide. And when my husband is an old man, I want him to be wise with his own beautiful, well-earned wrinkles. And I want to teach my son (and my daughter too) that men love and support each other,

and that men and women love and support each other too.

So how can I read a story about the “bad guys” while maintaining this story of love I want to teach my children? What do I say about the Wicked Witch or Darth Vader or Voldemort when my kids look at me and ask, “Why do they hurt people mama?”

Here’s what I say: “Everyone is doing the best they can.” Let me show you what I mean.

We used to call these stories about the good guys and the bad guys battles of “good vs. evil.” We used to say the bad guys are “evil.”

I have a different perspective, though. The perception of someone as “evil” is just a way that we give ourselves permission to hate and hurt others.

So, how do we love the bad guy?

By seeing the pain.

When I see stories of bad guys, I see ripples of pain.

> Darth Vader is in pain — you learn about his journey from Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader in the first three movies. He’s doing the best he can with the awareness he has, and he wears a mask to cover his face, to cover his pain. Upon his death, when the mask comes off, he tells his son Luke that Luke was right about him, that there was some good left in him after all.

> And have you seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi? In my opinion, the story was written in such a way that you actually hope that it is the last of the Jedi, because then maybe the fighting would stop. The movie blurs the lines between good and evil, and you wonder if rooting for Luke, Leia and Han was the right thing to do all along. The whole movie is pain-full.

> Voldemort (He Who Shall Not Be Named) from the Harry Potter series is in pain. You only get glimpses of it (it’s a little more expanded in the books), but he had a terrible childhood. Voldemort can’t do any better — he’s doing the best he can, and maybe his pain is made worse because they don’t even say his name — they don’t see his pain — they don’t even recognize him as a person.

> There’s a book and a musical called Wicked about how Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz, became the Wicked Witch. How? You might have guessed — it’s a story of pain that began before birth.

> I don’t wake up in the morning and think, “Today I want to yell at my kids.” But sometimes, I end up yelling at my kids. Not because I’m evil, and not because I’m a bad guy. When I yell at my kids, it’s a sign of pain, of hurt. Sometimes, there’s hurt happening in the present moment, but often, hurt from the past (from my own childhood) is creeping back into the present. And moms who lose their temper agree — we are in pain. Sometimes the pain is so painful we keep our hot temper a secret, to hide it from the world and in some ways, we even try to hide it from ourselves.

Here’s one final illustration I want to share with you about the “good guys vs bad guys” story. It’s about the events that happened on September 11, 2001. In the United States, there’s a holiday named in remembrance of that day — it’s called Patriot Day.

When my 6-year-old kids came home on September 11, 2017, they told me, “Mama, today we learned about Patriot Day.” So I asked,

“What did you learn about Patriot Day, sweethearts?” (I had not told them that story yet.)

My son said, “We learned that the bad guys flew airplanes into buildings and a lot of people died.”

My daughter asked, “Why did they do that mama?”

I told her, “They thought they were the good guys and we were the bad guys.”

My daughter thought for a moment and asked, “How did they come to think we were the bad guys?”

I told her, “Well, we’ve hurt them, and those are the stories they tell about us.”

So here’s my question: Where does it end? When does it end? How can we be true Patriots for our country and for our families?

Here’s my answer: the story about evil bad guys ends on my couch each evening with my children when I read them a fairy tale. It ends when they fight and hurt each other and instead of punishing them, I teach them how to love. It ends when they tell a story about a kid in school that got in trouble and I say, “Maybe he was having a rough day.” It ends when I’m driving on the road and I have compassion for someone who cuts me off. It ends when I apologize for yelling at my kids and I say, “I’m sorry. I love you. I’m doing the best I can, and I will try to do better.”

By calling the problem “pain” instead of “evil,” there’s opportunity for healing. “He Who Shall Not Be Named” has a name, and we need to say it, to see it, to see that he’s not evil, but that he’s a person in pain. Then it becomes a lot harder to hurt him. It becomes a lot harder for us all to hurt each other.

Now, does that mean it’s ok for the “bad guy” to hurt others? No. Hurting others is not ok, but learning how not to hurt begins with us.

If there is such a thing as evil in the world, it’s a tendency we all have to sometimes forget that people are people, with their own stories and histories, their own pain, dreams and desires.

I’m not the bad guy and neither are you.

When I think about it, it’s truly awesome (AWE-some) the power we have as parents. That’s why I like working with moms. In little moments every day, we have the power to change a story and maybe, just maybe, change the world.

Has that ever happened — have your kids asked you about the “bad guys?” What did you say?

Hire me to be your coach. Email me: jeanette@thelowpressurelife.com