One of my favorite movies when I was growing up was, “Hook” with Robin Williams. It still is actually. Wendy says early in the movie, “Peter, don’t you know who you are?” He had completely forgotten who he was. He forgot all that was within him. Not only did he forget he could fly, he didn’t even believe in flying… for anyone. Peter had this incredible potential to be Pan locked and buried within himself… Until he remembered.
But this is only a fictional movie so there isn’t any real life application…
We have to remember the great responsibility we have, to be all that is within us to be. I have to remember that there was a point somewhere along the timeline of my life that I knew exactly who I was. A time when I knew exactly where I wanted to go and what I had to do. But there was also somewhere on that same timeline that I lost my belief in those things. Somewhere, my imagination became stagnant. Somewhere, my hope vanished and what replaced these things were their opposites. Disbelief. Unimaginative thinking. Hopelessness.
Why is it that when we become adults, we forget that we can fly? (Not like Peter Pan of course, because that was just a movie… The point I’m trying to make in my facetious manner is that we have to allow ourselves to believe things like we did when we were kids. Stop being such a grown-up all the time. Wrap a blanket around your shoulders and pretend you can fly and in your mind you will. What happens there is just as real as what happens here.)
Why did I say we have a responsibility to be what is in us to be? Because other lives depend on us. Not only our children, our wives or husbands, or family members but every life that we touch and encounter. Most people do not naturally want to harm someone else intentionally. There have been times that I’ve wanted to quit certain things that I was passionate about, because like everything of value those things came at the cost of being difficult. I’m thankful for what my friend said to me, “All of those people that you inspired because of this work that you did might follow you… You inspire a lot of people and the mistake in walking away that you may be making can potentially inspire them to do the same.”
That was heavy. And if I saw someone journeying toward something of value, the last thing I want to do is be a factor in derailing them from attaining what is within them to be. Wooooo…. We have GREAT responsibility to be who we are. Do not become weary in doing good work. Meaning, do not quit just because it’s hard. Everyone around you needs you, and you need them.
I’ve made the decision to remember all of those things that are inside me. The person that is truly inside of you is unstoppable.
It seems to make sense that the things that you would want to do that are good would naturally have enemies fighting against them that want the opposite, that want bad and not good. Hopeless fights against Hope. Disbelief fights against Belief. Unimaginative Thinking fights against Imagination. The enemy of Good is Bad. When you want to do good in your life, there’s an enemy that is going to do everything he can to keep you from Good. As you get closer to the good things you’ll do, that enemy will fight even harder. Terrified of defeat which surely follows the moment you know the good that is hidden within you.
This is life. Prepare yourself for a hell of a fight!
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