Lessons from Movie Night

Saturday night is movie night here at the school. Last week the girls watched a movie in Portuguese, so I wasn’t really interested in attending. This week I was on the internet in the room beside the cafeteria (where the movie was being played) when I heard the opening music and dialogue from the movie Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan. As you may recall, in the movie the mother and teenage daughter unexpectedly switch bodies.  No one else knows this has happened. Excited, I quickly logged off the computer and went to join them as they watched. Sr. Johanna was translating the whole thing for them into Tetum! The movie was in English and there were English subtitles, so it was also a great way for ME to learn and practice Tetum! 

It was so fun to hear the girls crack up at different parts of the movie. It was interesting to note that they seemed to laugh the hardest at facial expressions or actions performed by the actors themselves, not the dialogue. I think much of the verbal humor is lost in translation. For instance, the girls loved when the mom (who was actually the teenager IN the mom’s body) joyfully jumped on the motorcycle and was hugging the daughter’s teenage crush, thought it was hilarious when the mom got a crazy new makeover that included an edgy haircut, ear piercings and crazy clothes, and when she turned away in disgust any time her fiancé tried to kiss her, etc.

Believe it or not, a very valuable lesson was reinforced to me as I watched the movie with the girls.  It is not so much what we SAY, but what we DO that makes a difference in the world. Words are tricky things. They don’t always convey the message we are trying to send, may be misinterpreted or lost in translation. Actions tend to be a lot more straightforward. Therefore, it’s okay that I don’t speak Tetum well. I don’t need to speak it well to convey love and care for the girls I am with. I can SHOW them love by being present, by hugging them, playing with them, talking, singing and laughing with them. We may not always understand what we are saying to each other, but we can understand when we show each other love, respect and kindness through our actions. Actions really do speak louder than words.