Elle Woods, the hero, is a beautiful, passionate woman inside and out. She is so nice even when the world does not respond in kind. On a very personal level, perhaps we can somehow all relate to Elle; I know I can. When the last credit was shown, the bubbly crowd dispersed, until all that was left were the remnants of the food, scattered chairs, tables and couches… Oh, and me. I stood in this parking lot looking at the party that everyone wanted to partake in, but when it came time to clean up, all you could hear were crickets. So, I became the cleanup crew. It was not my job, but I have always been a doer. It is both a blessing and a curse. In the words of Robert Frost, "The world is filled with willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them." Yes, Mr. Frost you are speaking to me.
As I looked around at these chairs and couches I wondered what the people that sat on them thought would happen to them once they left their perch. Did they think that, like the beloved furniture out of the classic Disney movie Beauty and the Beast that it would just magically go back in- side? One could only wish. As the newly recruited volunteer of one girl and two hands, a fellow sister joined this exclusive club and we both began dragging this stuff back to the house at the same time watching beautiful sisters walk out of it in their heels for an evening in East Lansing.
It was then that I began to ponder this Elle Woods film... it was a movie of following your passion but more importantly it addressed the question of being nice. Of respect in treating others the way you want to be treated, of keeping promises made, of smiling when you want to cry at the mean spirited cruelness of others and inevitably coming out victorious.
Elle woods, although her character was nice and she was not always treated with respect or kindness, that did not deter her from staying true to herself and her niceness. I personally have been accused of being "too nice.” Can a person be too nice? Is there such a thing?
Tying my two favorite things together, sports and girly movies, this week will mark the end of Derek Jeter's 20-year illustrious baseball career. Immediately what comes to mind, besides him being so darn handsome and a potential Hall- of-Famer from Michigan, is that Mr. Jeter is just an all around nice guy. Coming from a biracial family, he has always, “carried himself the right way and he has done the right thing." His mom Dot says, “We always taught him to treat people the way you want to be treated. Respect people like you want to be respected... when people say negative things, he doesn’t want to hear it.” But more importantly, throughout his life he has been defined by his grace... his “niceness,” if there is such a word. “Go ahead; try to find someone to say a negative word about Jeter. Search for someone who he snubbed or did not treat with ultimate respect. I don't think that anyone can say one bad thing about him."
Now in the shadow of pending retirement, stadiums have been filled with adoring fans, paying their respect to Derek Jeter, the future Hall-of-Famer and all around genuinely, nice guy. So as I pondered my initial question about niceness when my mom asked why I got clean-up duty, I responded, "I saw something that needed to be done, so I did it. I guess I would like to think of myself as a nice person." Ultimately, most of us will never have stadiums of people standing in ovation paying respect to all those nice guys out there, but you know who you are. And in my opinion, you can never be too nice.
