One of my favorite Pixar movies is Inside Out. Maybe because it hit soon after I became a parent of two children, but it completely wrecked me. No spoilers, but the Bing-Bong scene still gets me every time.
Of the main characters, who play anthropomorphized emotions inside a girl’s mind, Sadness is revealed to play a key role. Initially, one of the other characters, Joy, believes her purpose is to make sure Riley experiences as much happiness as possible, while eliminating all sadness, anger, fear, and disgust.
But in the end, they realize a growing child needs to experience more complex emotions. Sometimes, things are bitter-sweet, like moving to a new home. We all understand mixed emotions are a common occurrence, and on some level, we understand they’re not all bad.
When we realize it’s ok to be sad, and that there’s not something wrong with us because we feel that, we can stop feeling bad about feeling bad. Early in the movie, Joy lightly guilts Sadness for being, well, sad. That’s the second tier of “feeling bad.” And when that happens to us, it will result in a growing sense of shame.
If there’s one thing the church has been good at over the decades, it is instilling a keen sense of guilt and shame into every Christian. Work on a church staff, and that can grow even deeper.
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