Changed for Good
I watched Wicked for Good recently (because of course I did), and there’s this one line that has stayed with me long after the credits rolled:
“I have been changed for good.”
In the movie, it’s emotional and hopeful. But the more I sat with it, the more it hit me in a different way. Changed for good doesn’t just mean forever. It can also mean permanent. Unshakeable. Something that settles into who we are.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth:
We are changing the people we interact with — students, colleagues, families, friends — for good. But that doesn’t automatically mean we’re changing them for the better.
That’s the part I can’t shake.
I have so many thoughts brewing about the connections between Wicked and education. Things like identity, courage, belonging, the tension between who we’re expected to be and who we actually are. And I’ll share all of that soon.
But this one idea is sitting with me the most deeply and urgently right now:
the idea of impact… and responsibility… and the stories people carry forward because of us.
A single interaction can shape someone’s sense of self , in ways we never see.
A comment. A tone. A moment of rushing.
Or, on the other side, a moment of noticing. Encouraging. Believing in someone when they don’t believe in themselves.
Both kinds of moments change people for good.
So the real question I’m sitting with is this:
Not just, “Am I changing people?” but “Am I changing them for the better?”
And this isn’t just about math or classrooms or schools — though it absolutely applies there.
It’s about how we move through the world.
How we show up.
How we leave people feeling after they’ve been in our presence.
I’m not aiming for perfection. That’s impossible.
But intention is not. Awareness is not. Repair is not.
If I’m going to “change someone for good,” I want that change to lead them toward confidence, dignity, and possibility — not toward shrinking, doubt, or a smaller sense of who they are.
Wicked for Good left me with a lot to think about.
And maybe the line means this:
Being changed for good is inevitable.
Being changed for the better is intentional.
