Captain’s Blog: Learning About Change Via The Bathroom in Boy Meets World

Aristotle describes "change" as "For one or the other of the contraries would, by its presence or absence, be sufficient to bring about a change." I don't really know what that means, but I'd like to take a look at the word "change," as illustrated via the mysterious door on the right in Boy Meets World. 

Boy Meets World follows the tale of young Cory Matthews as he navigates the world meeting all it has to offer. He grows. He changes. His friends grow and change, but I, as a two-time psychology Ted Talk listener, would argue that no greater character growth exists in the show of that of the mysterious door on the right at John Adams High as seen first as a bathroom in season 2 episode 1. 

Only two episodes later, the bathroom magically transforms into Principal Feeny's office. What's the significance? The significance is everything. One day we may be one thing, and one day another. We may feel dirty and disgusting like a bathroom on Tuesday, but we can evolve into an office by Friday if we work on ourselves. What was once a toilet to relieve oneself can advance to an office of the highest command. Aren't we all both a bathroom and a principal's office?

As the series continues, the door fluctuates between "Bathroom" and "Office." One may argue that this was done out of convenience for their TV studio, but that one would miss the show's point, the theme. The "boy" in Boy Meets World is the Bathroom door. We see the bathroom as it grows to what the world needs it to be.

Later in the series, the door becomes the office of the school guidance counselor. A Middle per se, between principal and bathroom, a purgatory of decision that could elevate oneself to higher or lower on the growth scale of life. As we find ourselves in a global pandemic, we all face a decision to evolve or devolve, to become a bathroom or a principal's office, and what we choose to do will change how the world perceives us.

But then again, maybe it was always a bathroom, and perhaps Principal Feeny did his best thinking on the can. Don't we all, don't we all? I guess Aristotle was right. Classic Stot.