C1: Commitment

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Commitment is about...

CONTENTS ON THIS PAGE:

  • Having a Compelling Mission Statement

    • Audio: Our son Matthew on our family mission statement

    • Music Video: “We Are Family,” by Sister Sledge

  • Making Your Word Mean Something

    • Music Video: “When I Said I Do,” by Clint Black

    • Music Video: “Still the One,” by Orleans

    • Blog Articles: The 52 Love Songs Project

    • Blog Articles: The 52 GREAT Relationship Masters Project (19 and counting…)

    • Book: Horton Hatches the Egg

  • Working Things Out

    • Music Video: “We Can Work It Out,” The Beatles

    • Music Video : “We Can Work It Out,” cover by Stevie Wonder

    • Vid: Blockbuster (TV spot)

  • Being There

    • Vid: A Son Every Day (TV spot)

    • Vid: Half Time (TV spot)

    • Vid: Dry Cleaner (TV spot)

    • Vid Casey at the Bat (TV spot)

    • Vid: Cheering Section (TV spot)

    • Vid: Family Harmony (TV spot)

  • Movies and Shows About Strong Families

… Having a compelling Mission Statement…

…so everyone knows what we’re about and our commitment to each other.

Example 1.
I found this audio journal entry of what my then 17-year-old son, Matthew, thought our family’s mission statement might be:


Example 2.
The 70s disco hit, We Are Family by Sister Sledge is an excellent example of a powerful mission statement.

… Making our word mean something.

Most romantic songs are about strong feelings… and feelings come and go. While I’m a hopeless romantic, love love and all the sappy feelings that go with it, those feelings aren’t reliable as they can rise and fall, ebb and flow. Instead, I’m much more interested in songs about COMMITTED love. Behavioral love. Choice-based love. And this is one of my very favorite of all of them. “When I said, ‘I do’ I meant, ‘I will.’”

… Means you’re still the one

“Still the One,” by Orleans

“Changing, our love is going gold*
Even though we grow old, it grows new”

* Note: “love is going gold” is a reference to the golden or 50th anniversary.

See my 52 Love Songs Project for many more examples of COMMITTED love songs.

“I meant what I said,
And I said what I meant.
An elephant’s faithful,
One hundred percent.”
—Horton the Elephant, Dr. Seuss

Never read it?! Click here to get it now! —>
It’s a fun read-aloud book with a great message.

The 52 GREAT Relationship Masters Project



… Working things out,

such as "mend it, don't end it."

Example 1:
I love this Stevie Wonder cover of The Beatles “We Can Work It Out.” It’s a great anthem to remember to hang in there and not give up. Of course, the original is superb… so here they both are together :-).

Example 2:

… Being there,

helping each other out, showing up, supporting each other, believing in one another, cheering each other on, having a place... All of this gives us security, a safe harbor in a storm, a sense of purpose, place and identity.

Movies and Shows About Strong Families

There are fortunately many good movies and TV shows about strong families that exhibit messages of commitment to one another. Please share your faves in the Private Facebook Group.

Soul Food (1997)
Generations bonding around the dinner table through food. Clip:

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Single father in poverty fights for a better future for his son.

Life Is Beautiful
Tragically sad and beautiful story of parents, highlighting the father’s incredible attitude, protecting their son from the horrors of the Holocaust.

Marley and Me
The life of a family around a chaotic but endearing loveable dog. This movie highlights the idea of “mend it, don’t end it” when it comes to marital conflict.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Western groom enters into his bride’s traditional Greek family where the bonds are very strong.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
A family learns to come together in a common goal, in spite of their differences and conflicts.

The Family Stone (2005)
Different personalities, common family bond. Mother’s last Christmas as family copes with loss and acceptance, while new girlfriend struggles to fit in.

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep struggle through the conflict of divorce and custody battles while working hard to be there for the son they both love and eventually find a way to co-parent.

Parenthood
Steve Martin plays the father who anxiously tries to be the father to the children he never had.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
A comedy and drama that addresses dysfunction, divorce, death, and the power of family.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Gilbert (Johnny Depp) sacrifices his desire to make a life of his own to care for his mentally impaired brother (Leonardo DiCaprio) and disabled mother.