Friendship Lessons via Girl Meets World
Hi guys. I hope you all are doing well. You all know I love my life lesson posts, so here’s a long post that I’ve been writing for months (since it’s related to a tv show that has taken me a bit to finish).
Girl Meets World is a spin-off of the 1990’s Disney Channel show Boy Meets World. It has all your favorite characters from Boy Meets World as adults. Cory and Topanga are parents, and the show follows their daughter, Riley, and her friends (dubbed as Riley & Co) as they navigate life together. So today, I’m sharing my favorite lessons I’ve learned from the show so far.
Friends let you be yourself. And they love you for it.
This is a lesson that is constant throughout the show. Maya loves how unique Riley is. She never tells Riley to “grow up” or to stop being who she is. Maya loves Riley, and all her quirks, from living in Rileytown to the Awards Show Riley hosts for herself (S2E17: Girl Meets Rileytown). Riley loves Maya for who she is. Riley loves Maya’s “dark side” and sometimes wishes she was like that (S2E12: Girl Meets Yearbook). Riley encourages Maya not to do rebellious things and regularly helps her get out of the hot water she lands in.
A true friend will love you for who YOU are and won’t try to change you. If a friend doesn’t like a part of you and tries to make you change that part, they are not a true friend!
Friends fight battles with you.
In the show, Farkle is being bullied by someone for being a nerd, intelligent, and for the clothes he wears. Riley, Maya, and Lucas help Farkle deal with the bully (S1E13: Girl Meets Flaws). In the show’s second season, they tackle the bullying storyline differently. This time, Riley is being cyberbullied by someone in school. Maya, Lucas, Zay, and Farkle all come to help Riley. Towards the end of that episode, Riley tells Lucas that she should be able to “fight her own battles.” Lucas tells Riley, “No, you shouldn’t. And you don’t have to, Riley. That’s the point of having friends.” (S2E17: Girl Meets Rileytown).
This is a lesson that I am still learning. I’ve been hurt by many friends throughout my life, and as I’ve grown up, I’ve learned that I’m “better off alone.” Throughout last year I realized that I just didn’t have the true friends growing up that I have now. There have been times when I’ve wanted to get through hard things on my own and without help, but seeing this episode reminded me that I have true friends who will fight my battles with me. So I let my friends in, and their love and support have been a massive help to me.
Friends are there through the hard times.
In the second season, Farkle discovers he might have Aspergers. He wants to be with his friends as much as possible during the diagnosis. His parents stay and hang out with Riley’s parents (since they also went to school together in Boy Meets World). In one of the scenes, Jennifer (Farkle’s Mom) thanks Cory and Topanga “for going through this process with them.” Cory tells them that “that’s what friends do.” Friends are there for you no matter what!
Friends know that teasing is all in good fun. And they know when to stop.
Throughout the show, you see Maya and Lucas constantly teasing each other. Maya and Lucas are always laughing it off, and they never get offended by each other. Lucas always laughs off Maya’s ha-hur moments (S2E12: Girl Meets Yearbook) and her name-calling (S1E9: Girl Meets 1961). Maya and Lucas know when to stop teasing and what not to tease each other about (such as Lucas pre-move to NYC). If friends tease you, laugh it off, but if their teasing is mean or hurts you, tell them to stop. And if they don’t stop, talk to an adult or find a different friend.
Eons ago (okay, fine, it was approximately 13 years ago), I used to get American Girl Magazines. One of the magazines talked about teasing. The writer said that she and her friends had a code called NJZ (No Joke Zone). If the teasing got too much and someone said NJZ, the teasing stopped immediately. If your friends tease you and won’t prevent it, implementing a code like NJZ might help.
Friends don’t make you change your beliefs.
At the end of the second season, Riley & Co deals with opposing beliefs and viewpoints. Rather than fighting about their different views, they ask each other questions about what they believe in and why. They never once tried to get the other person to change (S2E24: Girl Meets Belief). True friends don’t make you change your beliefs, whatever that might be. They may encourage you to look at things from a different perspective, but they won’t say, “I’m right, and you’re wrong.” (which was the whole point of the episode). In a classroom experiment, Cory challenged Riley & Co to challenge one another’s beliefs to see if it would change anyone’s perspective. There was no “change your beliefs”; it was “look at things from someone else’s perspective.”
Beliefs, to me, extend past religion. Some personal views could also be being vegan because you don’t like how the cows, pigs, etc., are treated at the slaughterhouse. It could also be not enjoying a particular music or movie genre. My best friend and I have different beliefs on certain things, but we love and respect each other enough to not ask the other person to change their views. We understand that everyone is different, and not everyone will see eye to eye on everything.
And that concludes my post on friendship lessons as told by Girl Meets World. I highly recommend that everyone sees this show, regardless of age. The younger Gen Z and the older Gen Z/younger Millenials could learn and relate to this show.
Don’t forget to give it a like, share it with your friend, and leave me a comment telling me any lessons you’ve learned from a TV show. As always, sending you all the light and love in this World. See you next week!
