Ted Lasso and Leslie Knope are my Heroes

They are not real people, rather fictional TV characters.  But I love them the same. I think of them, want to be like them, I truly love them.

 

I am not a naturally glass half full kind of person. More a “this glass is kinda dirty and cracked” kind of person. Ted Lasso and Lelsie Knope are more, “this glass is spilling over with abundance” kind of people.

 

In case you don’t know, Ted Lasso is a show currently on Apple TV and is about an American football coach who moves to England to coach an English football (soccer) team. It is funny and smart but what I love most is Ted and his relentless positivity and ability to see the strengths in people and bring forward their best.

 

Leslie Knope, of Parks and Rec, is a city government employee in charge of the parks department of the fictional Midwest town of Pawnee. She is a diligent hard worker who loves her job, the queen of organization, with well laid out plans in color coordinated binders. I love all that about her, but her superpower is also seeing the best in people and bringing joy to them.

 

There is one more person, a real person who I put in this same category. Positive, relentless, smart, and also a change maker. He is a principal friend. When I think of him, I see a huge smile on his face. I see him laughing and bringing people together. He told me years ago that he used to be a negative person, that at some point he decided to change. And so he did. I mean he really did. I did not know him before he changed, so it hard to imagine, but I believe him and the power to be what we want to be.

 

I want to be Leslie with her detailed plans, all well thought out, presented in digestible chunks for others to understand, not nervous, fumbling and mis-spoken.

 

I want to be Ted, relentlessly positive in the face of fierce competition, letting the criticism roll right of his back, not festering in his mind.

 

I want to be like Leslie, always thinking of others and bringing joy to their lives whether it is a thoughtful gift or a special holiday, Galantines, not forgetting birthdays and unreturned phone calls and texts.

 

I want to be like Ted, curious and non-judgmental, affirming those around him and always trying to know and understand them more deeply, not quick to decide and judge, reluctant to find out more.

 

I am working on it. Today the glass is…filling.

One thought on “Ted Lasso and Leslie Knope are my Heroes

  1. I love both of these shows because they make me feel so good after watching. I would love to have the qualities of both of those lovely fictional characters too.

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