My husband and I recently saw the New York City Broadway play “Frankenstein: A New Musical.” Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley wrote her “Frankenstein” story in 1816 during a cold, wet, and dreary summer. She was with her husband Percy Shelley, the poet, and George Byron, her friend. The Frankenstein musical adds to the story with music by Eric B. Sirota, Ph.D., composer, playwright, physicist, and research scientist. Dr. Sirota saw the short Frankenstein on Broadway in 1981 and said, “I read the book again and heard the story sing in my head like a musical.”
As I watched the development of “Frankenstein: A New Musical,” I watched the creator, Dr. Frankenstein, look at the creature he had created in his own image with horror and fear. He wanted the creature gone!
Dr. Frankenstein did not welcome his new creation, as one would welcome their new baby with love, hugs, kisses, and smiles. When new babies are born, they only have “blank pages”! My mom always said, “Be careful what you write on them!”
Dr. Frankenstein was immediately afraid of his creature from the first time he got up from the table under the sheet that covered him.
“The creature” from the beginning of his life saw only “fear” in the eyes of his creator.
Dr. Frankenstein wanted “the creature” to go away and it did. He ran! From that moment on, when people came into contact with him, they were scared to look at his face. He felt scared and threatened. He protected himself by killing the person who threatened him!
It didn’t have to be like this! If Dr. Frankenstein had “loved and embraced” his creation from the beginning, the creature’s life would have been different!
Love makes all the difference in the world for others!
If the creature had been loved, hugged and cared for from the first moment of its life, like a newborn, it would have been happy, content and self-confident.
Love makes all the difference!
When I was a child, I always remember my mom smiling, hugging me and kissing me. Whatever happens in my young life, I knew she loved me and cared for me. She spent time with me and I knew she cared for her!
The creature never received the care it needed from its creator, Dr. Frankenstein! If he had been loved instead, his face would have looked better. He might even have looked handsome with the scars. When we are loved, hugged, kissed and cared for, we are happy people who care about others and can love them too.
Every person, even a monster, needs someone to love and care for them. If they feel love, they are happy, they can smile and their faces change, they even become beautiful when they are not!
If you look in the mirror and change your frown for a smile you look 100% better! Try it! When we are loved we look better, we feel better and we are happy!
In all of life we have a choice. Give others love, hugs and take care of them or make them terrified and afraid of us as “the creature”.
Think of classic literary bullies like Shakespeare’s character Iago in the play “Othello” and Darth Vader in the movie “Star Wars.” These men became thugs because “they weren’t loved and cared for!
By being loved and cared for, the image changes within us, whether we are a person, a monster, or an animal.
All living things need love!
Love makes deference!
There is no substitute for love!
Former NFL football player Bill Glass had a prison ministry for many years. After speaking one-on-one with thousands of men in prison, he said: “He had never talked to a man in prison who really loved his father. Most of them hated their fathers and took their hate out on themselves, the drugs and the alcohol, and the rest of society.”
Ninety-three percent of these inmates had these feelings.
Zig Ziegler says, throughout history and today, “The Jewish father tells his son, whether the boy is three, thirty or sixty, he is still a son.”
Step one: “Blessed are you, my son.”
Step two: “I love you my son.”
Step Three: “Then you give your child a big hug and, in many cases, throughout their lives, a big kiss.”
Many other cultures also give this devotion.
For this New Year, what can you do to make the world a better place for you, your family, friends, family pets, and others?
Show others that you care by smiling, loving, hugging and spending time with them to show them you care and how special they are to you!
Tell them something nice. Make them feel welcome.
Love them and hug them tight. lift them up Don’t drag them down! Show them love, respect and appreciation.
Be like Mother Teresa, not Darth Vader! He loves others.
