THOUGHTFUL RAMBLING No. 5
"The Power Of YES"

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of spending four days as a passenger aboard the Disney Wonder, one of Disney's two luxury cruiseliners that travel from Port Canaveral Florida to the Bahamas and Disney's private island Castaway Cay. It was my first direct experience with Disney in 15 years and after reports from friends visiting the Magic Kingdom that Disney was slipping, I'm pleased to report the mouse is still roaring.

It felt a bit strange taking a week of vacation on the 20th of January, but I'll admit, I was looking forward to recharging a bit. I don't care what you do for a living, when you've done it day in, day out for 15 years, your work routine can become a bit grooved. Stale. Mundane. Everyday. Rutted. There's a reason it's called a routine. And I was excited about getting out of mine for a week with my Mom, my brother and his family, with Ginger and the kids.

From the time we decided to take a Disney cruise last summer, to the moment we got back to the Orlando airport to fly home from the cruise, I was struck by how unbelieveably buttoned up Disney was and how incredibly organized. Admittedly, you couldn't entertain a million passengers a year from all walks of life without knowing a little something. But it seemed like every time we turned around -- in our cabin, at dinner, on the island, in the children's club -- we practically had an answer before we'd even asked a question. We quickly realized, Disney had thought of everything.

My nephew Will was born deaf and has two cochlear implants that allow him to hear. I was talking about him and our cruise to a film director in Chicago who has shot for Disney and he told me a story about a little deaf girl on one of his shoots. Wanting to find real stories, Bob had set out into the park to look for genuine moments of the Disney magic he'd heard so much about. While he was out, he stumbled on the Mom and her hearing-impaired daughter and watched as the little girl left her mother's side and ran over to where one of the Disney characters was shaking hands and hugging the kids who came up to him. The mother followed and when it came their turn, explained to Goofy that her daughter couldn't hear. Goofy looked at the mother, looked down at the little girl, and began to sign with his big floppy hands.

These people think of everything.

The last night of our cruise, we had dinner in a restaurant called "Animator's Palette." When you walk in, the entire restaurant is black and white. Like an art deco diner. Or a pen and ink drawing. The tables and chairs are white with black trim. The 7 columns supporting the weight of the ceiling look like paint brushes with the tops connecting to giant white palettes that adorn the ceiling. Every wall is white, with thousands of black line drawings of Disney characters covering the walls. The waiters wore black and white. It was cool from the second we walked in. But when dinner started, so did the magic. Very slowly, throughout the evening, the walls started to come to life and turn from black and white to full color complete with music, dancing and gaping mouths from both kids and adults. The brushes at the tops of the columns also changed color as did the color bowls in the palettes on the ceiling. That's when it hit me.

Disney is all about the power of "YES!" That restaurant alone had to cost a fortune to create, along with the rest of the ship. And while there were many, I promise you, who said no in fear of the time and money it would take, someone stood up for YES and made it happen. When someone suggested Disney buy their own island and create their own port in the middle of the Carribbean, someone championed YES and saw that it was done. When someone suggested they teach Mickey and Goofy and Minny and Pluto to sign so the deaf kids would feel the same love and magic as the other 98.3% of children visiting Disney, YES was championed again. That's how magic is made.

As I come back to my job -- at its root, the same as those of the Disney Imagineers -- I hope I too can remember and harness the power of YES. The power of finding a way when many say no.

A number of years ago, over a number of cocktails, I got into a life discussion with my Creative Director who had become a very good friend. I asked him what his philosophy of life was. He told me it was to find unexpected joy in everything he created and everything he did in his life.

He never worked for Disney. But he could have.

THOUGHTFUL RAMBLING No. 4
"Redefining The Me Generation"

I saw the light.

It happened yesterday morning while I was sitting in church. I was listening to the words of a soft spoken man with a single name and long dark hair. His message was all about love and peace and caring for those less fortunate. As I heard his words, his challenge to spread this message of love around the world, I had an epiphany. One of those convictions that hit you in the chest when you're least expecting it.

Yesterday morning, I sat transfixed in our 11:00 am service along with 700 other people, listening to an interview conducted by Bill Hybels, the senior pastor at Willow Creek Community Church outside of Chicago. Hybels was talking to Bono, the lead singer of U2. But Bono was talking to us.

In 2005, Bono was named TIME Magazine's Person Of The Year along with Bill and Melinda Gates for the work they've done to help the poor around the world. In yesterday's interview, he talked about Africa. He talked about AIDS. He talked about the meetings he's had with international leaders asking them for Third-World debt relief. He talked about the meetings he's had with church leaders around the world engaging them to take a stand on the hard issues. He talked about a number of things that struck a chord with the people in our sanctuary. Poverty. Drought. Genocide. Tribal War. All of them enormous. All of them heart-breaking.

He recalled Jesus's charge to his followers to love their neighbors as themselves. And the assurance that what we do for the least among us, we do for Him.

It was about this time that I looked down at the front of yesterday morning's program. It was a picture of the universe with a headline that said, "If not me, who? If not now, when?" Exactly right.

Bono is a Hall of Fame rock star worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He has the capital to make a global impact any time he feels like it. And he has. But here was my epiphany -- I don't have to be Bono to make an impact. And neither do any of the rest of us. I believe God calls us to do what we can do and that he does call us to help those less fortunate. I know the Jews believe that and while I'm not a student of the Koran, I bet that's somewhere in the Islamic teachings too.

What if instead of worrying about saving the world, we just started with a corner of it to tend to the best of our ability? It's so easy to get caught up in global warming, the killing in Darfur, the rebuilding of New Orleans. It can be overwhelming to the point that we're so paralyzed with the thought of having to do everything, that we end up doing nothing.

But what if we all just did a little? What if we redefined the "Me" generation to be an army of people who ask themselves, "If not me, who?" When someone joins the Methodist church, we're asked if we'll support it with our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service? What if we treated our immediate circle of the world with the same dedication?

After I got home and was thinking about Bono's sermon, I came across three of my favorite all-time quotes -- all from the same person.

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."

"Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose."

"I am only one, still I am one. I cannot do everything, still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do."

These aren't the words of a president, a pastor, or anyone of power. They're Helen Keller's. Whatever you do to the least of these, you also do unto me.

My father used to tell my brother and I that "to whom much is given, much is expected." He made it clear to us that it was not enough just to live. Not enough to take a place in this world without doing something significant with the time we're blessed with here.

As I start 2007, I'm not making any resolutions. I'm not making a 20-point goals list. I'm not even making any promises.

What I am going to do is find my little corner of God's garden to tend. To make that which I've traded a day of my life for, worth the price I paid for it. If I can do that, what a year it will be.

Want to join me?