This may be an unpopular opinion, but I don't think the heart of a movie or play is always the most popular song. Sometimes, the quieter song is exactly where the heart lives.
In Frozen, "Let It Go" is the sweeping, girl-power anthem. It is designed to let us breathe with Elsa. It invites us to cheer for her as she comes into her own. But the heart of the story? It's "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?"
It's the story of a little girl wanting more than anything to reconnect with her sister but has no idea how. Anna keeps asking her to come out, to meet her, and let her in. Time and time again, she is met with silence. It's a song about a little girl who desperately misses her sister.
The heart of Frozen is not that Elsa can finally be free to be Elsa. It's about unconditional love that is communicated through the eyes of Anna and the sound of her repeated requests to build a snowman.
In Wicked, the heart of the play is not "Popular" or even "Defying Gravity." It's "For Good". It's about being changed by someone for the better because you knew them. It's about the people who have left their marks on our lives, even if we've only known them for a short time. It's about how we are never quite the same again because our paths have crossed.
Those songs are powerful because they reveal the emotional truth beneath the performance. Without them, we miss something essential to the message of the story. We may still have an entertaining story, but we lose the central heart of the story.
I think the same can be true for the people in our lives.
The ones who affect us most aren't always the loudest, the most popular, or the prettiest. Sometimes, they're the quiet, still ones who see us when no one else does. The ones who invite us to share a piece of ourselves with them without demanding we be anything other than who we are. The ones who challenge us to be better, and yet somehow also make us feel safe enough to simply breathe.
Those people are few and far between. And often, we don't even realize just how deeply they have affected and changed us until we stop to look back.
So, my challenge for you is simply this: be that person for someone. Be the person whose presence makes a difference. Let your kindness leave a mark. Be the friend who helps someone be a little more confident being who they are.
Be the person someone can one day say this of:
🎵"Because I knew you, I have been changed for good."🎵
