I hate Disney (DIS). All right, that is actually a complete lie; but I'll tell you why I would say such a thing. I was speaking with someone the other day and they were laying out for me their ill fated life and all that is going wrong therin. Then, they stopped and commented how they wanted the wife, and the house, and the kids, and the job, and the fairy tail ending.
My advice, which was completely unappreciated, as I found out when the conversation ended abruptly shortly thereafter, was simple: go to work. I was then told that a job had already been obtained and that work had commenced. I told my conversation partner to work more, work all the time. If the current job didn't afford 15-18 hours a day of work, then go get more work. I then said work, work, work, work, & work. At which point I was told, not so politely, how this person felt and the conversation was over. And I have known this person for over 20 years!
THIS is why I hate Disney. People grow up watching fairy tales, thinking that by the time they hit adulthood that their "happy ever after can begin". Is it just me or does everyone forget that Rapunzle was locked up for decades in a tower? What about Simba watching his Uncle kill his Father and then being chased off by Hyena's and living in squalor (at least compared with being King) for decades until he gets his act together and takes on his responsibilities? In the Princess and the Frog, she is heroine is a waitress her working life and gets turned into a frog and is wooed by a swindler until they both grow up and fall in love. People seem to equate the 1st hour of the movie to their youth and the magic should happen sometime in your twenties, and then it's smooth sailing from there.
The reality is that the part of the movie that we NEVER see is the years of work that got each character to the point where something "miraculous" can happen. Most professional comedians starve themselves, and their family (if they have one)before they ever make it big. They tell jokes at every hole in the wall in the world before they "get their break". All we ever see is when they break onto the "big stage", the "magical" moment. The reality is that life is flippin' hard, and you MUST do two things to succeed:
1) Follow the Rules
2) Work like Hell
You don't have to do them both all the time, but you MUST do one of them at ALL times. When you don't, and you give up on both...you are going to regret it.
What do I mean by the rules? Pick a religion, ANY religion, and live by it. Live it to a T. Now, (here's the hard sell coming), I think you should be a Latter-Day Saint (a Mormon if you like). After going to 17 different denominations over the coarse of 4 years, I proved to myself that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has THE best set of rules for anyone to follow. But, in the end, I'm not picky. You must have a belief system that can guide you through life's choices. Do you drink or not drink? Do you have sex with whomever you want or wait until marriage? Are you faithful to your spouse? Do you have children? Do you let those children eat while sitting on the table? Can they jump on the couch or the bed? How important is it to work? All of those questions are going to be determined by how you see the world, your Metaphysics. Your Metaphysics is developed as you live your life of faith and get answers to life's big questions: Why are we here? What did we do before we got here? What happens after we are no longer here? As you begin to answer those, you'll find answers to all of the other questions above.
The last one, "How do I view work?" is of supreme importance. You MUST work like hell. You must work all the time. We are either going forwards or going backwards. If you are not working, and not participating in wholesome entertainment (which is a lot of work these days to find something that isn't trashy), then you ARE going backwards. You must work to pay rent, eat food, buy clothes, fill your car with gas to get to work, heat/cool your dwelling, cell phone to talk/text/tweet, internet for your computer to talk to you relatives and friends that are far away. Then there is your education....DANG does that cost a lot. What about fun? Besides nature, and by that I mean simply looking at it or walking around, every other activity cost money biking, skiing, canoeing, running, basketball...none of it is free. The problem with money is that if you see it as the end in and of itself, rather than a means to getting back to Rule Number 1 (Follow the rules), you are going to have a hard time. Work is about improving yourself. Shooting free-throws makes you a better basketball player. Playing Wii Tennis gives you better hand-eye coordination. Reading books improves your vocabulary and understanding of the world around you. Reading helps you examine the human condition from other angles not your own (still kind of talking about Rule #`again).
The more work you do, the less time you have to make mistakes. Less free time means: less time wasted surfing social media, endless posts of things you could waste your money on with Craig's List, fewer levels to beat in your video game that will rob you of valuable time with those you love and care about. Less free time means fewer dollars spent on things you don't really need and more money you can give to charities you care about based on Rule #1. It means avoiding addictions like gambling, pornography, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, video games, and the countless other things this world attempts to tell you that you need through advertising. Work keeps you out of trouble and out of debt. Work keeps you focused on improvement. Work can take dozens of forms and isn't all "for pay".
Work is a means to an end as well, that end being money affords you time to spend on Rule #1, which is "following the rules". For what seems like all of time, the vast majority of philosophers are well to do...they are rich people. Those are the only ones who have enough money to get to spend time thinking about morality, how the world works, and whether or not G_d actually exists and what kind of being G_d is.
I've gone on and on about the benefits of Following the Rules and Working like Hell. What's the bottom line? When you see a terrific marriage, a happy family, and someone with a good job who enjoys their work; it's not because they woke up after 20 years with a kiss and it was handed to them. No one came to rescue them from a tower. People who enjoy life do so because they find a belief system and keep it and they work hard. Marriage is hard people, and it takes effort. I go days without seeing my kids because of the amount of work I do. When I asked Rachel (my wife) if I should find a way to be at home more, she told me she has everything handled and it's good for the kids to see my example of hard work. They treasure the time that they do get to spend with me and it means I can do things like offer advice and council because of how my kids see me. Rachel also works very hard to establish the rules for the kids. She gives them Rule #1 and I give them Rule #2. Rachel is also deep in the middle of writing a 7 book series and there is no shortage of work that she has to do. The kids are a constant witness of endless amounts of work that get done by both Mom and Dad. It's good for them to see that.
That's what bugs me about Disney. No one really wants to see a movie about the 1st 20 years of life, or 30, BEFORE the happy ending comes in 118 minutes. It's really not Disney's fault. Too many of us live in a microwave society where we imagine we can just ZAP whatever we want into existence. We want all the gain without any of the pain. Real life doesn't work that way. It's hard. It's really hard.
Life is beautiful and the beauty is in the journey of arriving, not in the end of the journey. Who waits until the credits roll to enjoy the film? Who gets to the end of the bowl of ice cream before you enjoy the taste? Who wants to wait until the music stops to dance? Don't, don't wait to dance...do it while the music is playing, even if you don't know the song. It doesn't matter if anyone is watching or not. Pick a partner you can work with, get married, and dance all night long. One day the music will stop and you want to be able to look back on all the fun you had dancing.
Oh, and I actually love Disney. The now own all the Marvel Super Heroes AND Star Wars. They are going to put a new Star Wars Movie out every year starting in 2015!!! That is going to make them rich and a lot of people very happy. So, when stocks sell off this summer, go by yourself or your kids lots of Disney stock, symbol DIS.
