The other day I went to the Broadway musical Wicked. The other side of the story about Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West is heart-warming and inspiring. Elphaba (the “wicked” witch) and Glinda (the good witch) had become friends at school and had largely influenced each other throughout their lives since. Pay attention to the words they sing to each other as they prepare to part ways:

Glinda:

I’ve heard it said

That people come into our lives for a reason

Bringing something we must learn

And we are led

To those who help us most to grow

If we let them

And we help them in return

Well, I don’t know if I believe that’s true

But I know I’m who I am today

Because I knew you…

Like a comet pulled from orbit

As it passes a sun

Like a stream that meets a boulder

Halfway through the wood

Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?

But because I knew you

I have been changed for good

Elphaba:

It well may be

That we will never meet again

In this lifetime

So let me say before we part

So much of me

Is made of what I learned from you

You’ll be with me

Like a handprint on my heart

And now whatever way our stories end

I know you have re-written mine

By being my friend…

Like a ship blown from its mooring

By a wind off the sea

Like a seed dropped by a skybird

In a distant wood

Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?

But because I knew you

I have been changed for good

Life must be lived in a way that we change people’s lives for the good. Every person that we come in contact with must be moved and changed by our kindness and influence. Wicked taught me that friendship is powerful and should not be underestimated. Make sure that every person that you come in contact is better because they know you.

Make new friendships today, and strengthen the old ones. Change for good, and let yourselves be changed for good.

Life’s Golden Rule
Editorial Staff