It had been a long, wonderful, rainy day. We’d come prepared with umbrellas and plastic bags for covering our cameras. It was an adventure.
Whether we like it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not, life is an adventure. I know that many of you reading this know that. It’s part of the reason we love Disneyland. It’s an ideal adventure; a day filled with opportunities, missions and decisions. You can expect the unexpected. You can do the impossible. Good always triumphs over evil. (I don’t know about you, but for me, that is a prerequisite for a good adventure. What would Raiders of the Lost Ark be if the Nazis had beaten Indiana Jones? It may have still contained elements of adventure, but it would be a tragedy.) I think Walt, ever the optimist, intended for Disneyland to not just be an ideal adventure, but to inspire us to live our own ideal adventures. In everything he set his hands to, he aimed to entertain, but more importantly, to bring out the goodness in people. That’s remarkable. So often, we look to the future, thinking that someday things will get better, things will be better. It’s great to be hopeful for the future but let me ask you this – why not today? Why shouldn’t “better” be right now? We have a tendency to procrastinate when it comes to taking charge over our lives and sometimes we get caught up with the failures of the past or, perhaps, the nostalgia of it, all of which prevents us from making the most of the present. Adventures don’t happen in the past, though we can look back fondly on them and learn from them, nor do they happen in the future, though we can do our best to prepare for them. So quit talking and lay hold of that wonderful thing called “life”. Adventure happens now.
