Love Lessons From Beauty & the Beast

Youth is wasted on the young.

Like gobs of other Americans, viewing the ads for the new Beauty And The Beast movie caused instant nostalgia.  Which was abruptly cut short when I head the terrible fact that the animated version was more 25 years old.  I know I've put on weight over the years, but realizing I had gained 25 years put me in a tailspin.

So here are some of the love lessons I learned at the tender age of 11.

• First appearances can be deceiving.  When we first meet Mr. Beast he's ...a beast.  With a major attitude problem. Don't write someone off without learning more of the situation. Give people a chance.
• Being good looking without compassion can be a serious no-no.  Gaston seems to epitomize the opposite of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.  He is not patient, nor kind.  He is definitely boastful. And proud.  And rude.  And he totally does not rejoice in the truth.  
• Love involves sacrifice.  Belle took the place of her father in the castle,  And lest we forget, the Beast took one for Belle at the end of the movie.      
• Love involves being vulnerable.  When the Beast was hurt and Belle was trying to nurse him back to health, he had to expose a physical vulnerability.  When he invited her to dinner he exposed an emotional one.
• Love involves being aware of your partner's likes and dislikes.  When they are eating, Belle daintily sips on her soup/porridge/chowder as the Beast wolfs it down.  When he realizes Bell is all but aghast at this method, he tries his own spoon.  But that does no good-it's hysterical to watch him try. 
• Love involves compromise.  After they realized they couldn't eat in the same manner they simultaneously eat soup the same way-by lifting the bowl and drinking from it.  It's the perfect compromise for the two of them.
• It's okay to try new things.  Remember the two of them in the snow?  And the Beast looking like a telephone poll wire because so many birds were sitting on him?
• The things you take for granted are the same things someone else is praying for.  Remember that all but abandoned the castle?  Beast had tons of books but no desire to read.  And Belle would read anything she could put her hands on.
• The Celine Dion/Peabo Bryson version of the song "Beauty and the Beast" is the best.  John Legend killed it on the new version, but their version is priceless.  You could even say "tune as old as time".      
• Brunettes can rock the color yellow like nobody's business.
• Take dancing lessons so you can waltz, fox trot, and do all those other kinds of dancing.  You just never know when you're going to be whisked into an immaculate, ornate ball room to dance the night away.  Thanks to the movie, the precedent's been set.   

So, world, here's the advice for the next generation of kids.  You can thank me later.