We actually found time to take in a movie yesterday! And being the theatre-minded family we are, Hairspray was the chose for some of us, The Simpson Movie was the high-brow choice of others.

I thoroughly enjoyed Hairspray, having been subjected to the soundtrack for the last several weeks by our own resident drama queen, Kay.

What I didn’t know completely, was the plot. And how much the point of the story was about acceptance of those different than ourselves. Of course in the 1960s that was a black vs. white thing, and in this play, it was also a weighty issue.

But there is much that can be learned about advocating for any person who is “different”, such as our special needs children.

Of course, as in any good musical, it’s all a fable, and everything works out happily-ever-after in the end. But the characters had to take a moral stand and face down prejudices in situations where it would have been easier to maintain the status quo.

And so it goes with many of us. I think there are lots of situations that happen everyday, where ordinary people are placed in positions where if they make a stand they can accomplish extraordinary things.

Yet, I don’t kid myself at all that it is ever like it is in the movies, that those people who choose to do the “right” thing do so with such ease and apparent success, like Tracy Turnblad, who ended up not being arrested after all, but getting the dream guy and apparently keeping her spot on the local American Bandstand.

Instead, everyday heroes, like the one I met on the plane on Saturday, often do the “right” thing at an incredible personal cost, and often without being the least bit clear that all their efforts result in any positive outcome.

But still, there is something built into many of us that prevents us from NOT doing the right thing...regardless of the cost. Some of us who would march right along side Tracy Turnblad for integration and anti-discrimination, regardless of race, culture, weight or disability.