Since I’m talking about the movie Mary Poppins, I’d like to mention that my favorite character in it is Bert. He shows up quite a bit, doing various things. He’s quite the jack-of-all-trades, and this competence is the basis of his character. This knowledge is not mere practical knowledge, though, he’s also wise. For example, he can read the signs of the times:

His wisdom comes up in other places; he helps Mr. Banks figure out what Mary Poppins taught him, for example.

But what I really like about Bert, more than anything else, is his humility. You can see this best when he’s a chimney sweep. Consider his song:

Chim chiminey chim chiminey chim chim chereee
A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be.
Chim chiminey chim chiminey chim chim cheroo
Good luck will rubs off, when I shakes hands with you.
Or blow me a kiss.
And that’s lucky too.

Now as the ladder of life has been strung
you might think a sweep’s on the bottom-most rung
though I spends me time in the ashes and smoke
in this whole wide world there’s no ‘appier bloke.

Sweeping chimneys is an extremely dirty job. (It can be worse; ash is actually caustic when mixed with water.) Very few people would take it by choice and rich people always hire someone else to sweep their chimneys for them. But there is a freedom afforded in going where other men will not follow, and Bert takes the good that the life of the chimney sweep has to offer without resentment.

He also is without envy. Mr. Banks is a rich man, while Bert is a poor man, but Bert appreciates what he has and is happy. He even works to the good of Mr. Banks. When the children are afraid of their father, he reconciles them to him. He helps them to see things from their father’s perspective so that they are able to understand how he tries to love them.

In fact, Bert is the happiest character in the whole movie and his goodness is inseparable from his happiness. A character’s happiness being inseparable from their goodness is the mark of a well-done character. (Both in happy and miserable characters.)