By Courtney Dernier

The Avengers-an elite force.

Is that a force of protection? A force of justice? A force for vengeance? A force for good? A force for evil? A force for vigilantes?

I was recently re-reading an article which urged me to pay attention to what I pay attention to. And while playing alongside my son this morning, I tried to follow that urging; I paid attention. (Who says children are the only ones who can learn through play?) I noticed Little Man playing with our series of Avengers toys—the kind that come from the kids’ meal combos. The toys have connectors along their base and can link together. Once he connected the Avengers together into a perfectly straight line of 180 degrees, he counted his elite force from one to ten. Then he promptly started rearranging them. From the uniform line, he created two lines of five. But the lines weren’t adjacent to one another, nor were they back-to-front (the way military formations typically look in photos/movies). Instead, the toys were facing each other. They were looking into one another’s eyes.

My adult mind thought: these are Avengers. They prepare to battle and decimate an enemy. They’d never face one another, but face outward, ready to face a threat.

But, then I thought from Little Man’s perspective. This group is a team. Teammates approach one another in love. And they approach new relationships with the mindset of, What can I learn from this new friend? How can this new friend be shown love? How can I show this new friend that they are welcome? What can I share to honor my new friend?

So maybe these Avengers, whose role is typically conflict-bearing, can teach us something about how we approach relationships. Maybe instead of aligning ourselves in a stoic, structured formation—one in which everyone and everything is a possible combatant—we can align ourselves in a stance of friendship.

We can face one another from a place of love, not from a place of tension. We can approach one another with the questions “What can I learn from you?” and “How can I honor the divine within you?” instead of the statement “I will determine your value by determining what you can do for me.”

Let us choose to approach one another in life—not in a line, but face-to-face.