Many times it will come through music; other times it will be through a conversation or a message at church. This afternoon, it arrived in the movie “Saving Mr. Banks,” where Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney and Emma Thompson plays the woman who wrote “Mary Poppins.”
I was already enjoying the moment because it was a refreshing escape from reality. After all, it’s a movie about the movies, in Hollywood, where the sun shines all the time. I liked that because I already know the reality and depravity of the human condition, so I don’t need further illustration of it – i.e., “life sucks.” It’s like telling me battery acid might kill me. Gee, thanks for the info.
In the movie, Walt Disney is discussing possible endings to “Mary Poppins.” Specifically, he suggests a more positive ending to the story.
Emma Thompson’s character, who single-handedly defines the term “buzz kill,” isn’t so sure.
And then Walt says the line that hit me between the eyes: “We storytellers, we instill hope, and we do it again and again.”
Did I really just hear that? Did suddenly the world make some sense? I wanted to stand and clap, then do the Harlem Shake down the aisle.
Bingo.
In a world where the TV news is depressing, the political posturing is conflicting, the business of sports is deflating and the reality of aging is frustrating, I realized in one sentence what I am constantly on the lookout for – hope.
What I want to watch, read and talk about is not how rotten the politicians are, how bad the quarterback is, or how difficult life is. Instead, I want an infusion of the promise that someday everything will get better.
Getting rid of everything and everybody is not the realistic answer. I know, because I’ve often been tempted to suggest it. Answers are more complicated than that.
It’s like that scene in “American President,” where Michael Douglas responds to his political opponent who is always criticizing him.
He says, “I've known Bob Rumson for years. And I've been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob's problem isn't that he doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it!
“We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things, and two things only -- making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.”
Bingo.
So, when given the opportunity, I’d rather focus on the lawyers who devote some of their time to the poor, the sports personalities who play for the love of the game, the politicians who don’t vote strictly along party lines and the medical people who go about the daily task of extending loving care. They’re out there.
I’d rather listen to the coach who has a serious plan to overtake a tough opponent, enjoy a concert that makes me dance, read a book that makes me reflect and attend a church that lets me know that this life and all of its imperfections are not all there is. They’re out there, too.
If given the choice between the toxic smell of reality and the naïve suggestion of hope, I’ll take hope every single time, because it’s harder to find.
I’ll take the reason for optimism. I’ll take the vision for goodness.
I’ll take the storyteller…again and again.
Thanks, Walt.