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For What It’s Worth by Dr. Melfi
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For What It’s Worth by Dr. Melfi , Ph.D.
Ihad no intention of writing this particular subject in my column this week, but I’m afraid my miracles column will have to wait till next time. is seems equally important, in a di erent way. I recently watched the movie, Dear Evan Hansen, and for the past four days, I cannot stop thinking about it. For those of you who might not be aware, Dear Evan Hansen, was originally a Broadway musical starring Ben Platt, who won a Tony award for his performance. en it became a book, which I read cover to cover, and nally, a movie, also starring the brilliant Ben Platt.
As many of you who follow my writing are aware, I am an advocate for all children, those who are mine, and those who I have come in contact with during my o ce practice. erefore, this story particularly moved me, in a way that no other movie has moved me on this topic. It opens to nd a very awkward coming of age young man, essentially alone. He has broken his arm in a “fall” from a tree where he works, and sports a brand new cast. His father has abandoned the family years earlier, and his mother is a full-time nurse trying to balance work, raising a son, and nances. Because she is doing the best she can, and realizes that her son is at the least, shy, suggests that he take a marker to school so that his “friends” can sign his cast. Of course, by now you might have guessed, that Evan, who is taking medication for depression and anxiety and has a writing assignment given by his psychiatrist, has no friends. He believes he is invisible, and a social reject. It is only by happenstance, that a letter he writes to himself, which begins Dear Evan Hansen, falls into the hands of an aggressive bully who is also friendless, but for other reasons.
I do not want to spoil the plot and ending of the movie, which goes in a very di erent direction than you might have guessed, but su ce it to say, Evan, for a short time, fabricates some details which cause him to become almost instantly popular, although short-lived. e pain he has su ered most of his life, the bullying, and rejection of almost everyone who isn’t his mother, is visceral, and I defy any of you not to shed a few tears as he tries to navigate his life as best as he can, at the ripe old age of 17.
In my humble opinion, I think that this movie should be mandatory for every middle school and high school student to watch in their curriculum. e topic of bullying cannot be portrayed better than this movie presents, and even the most hardened student will think twice about passing by their classmates without stopping to say a nice word. If you get the chance, please watch it, rent it, buy it, ask your school superintendent to order it, and show it to your children. It is a beautifully sad, sensitive eye-opener to the extent that a lonely boy will go to make friends.
For What It’s Worth, I’m
going to watch it again, and again, and try not to cry each time.
