I remember exactly where I was ten years ago when I first heard what was happening in New York. I’m sure you do as well. I was at home getting ready for school. It was the strangest school day I ever had. The dean made an early announcement that we were all to go about the day in a normal fashion. Of course no one listened. Teachers all had their televisions on in an attempt to cure the desperately confused state we all found ourselves in.
My first thought for a picture today was to do something patriotic. Something saturated with red, white and blue. But I couldn’t get It’s a Small World out of my mind. A World’s Fair exhibit turned Disneyland attraction that was a call for world peace through the understanding that we are not that very different from one another. Above all, what unites us across the globe is love for our children, the hope of tomorrow.
At the D23 Expo, there was a Small World panel where Richard Sherman shared some history about the song that he and his brother Robert wrote. They were given the task to come up with a song for the World’s Fair exhibit by Walt, with very little time to get it done. The sentiment they came up with was simple enough, “let’s not kill each other”, but not very singable. What the two gifted men came up with is the song we all love or hate. Either way, we know it. Either way, its words ring true.
“It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears. It’s a world of hopes and a world of fears. There’s so much that we share that it’s time we’re aware, it’s a small world after all.”
The part that has resounded with me today is the part about hope. We need it. It’s the anchor of the soul. If we remember that and embrace hope, fear cannot shake us. Though the world is full of fears, hope can overcome them all. Hope gives us the strength and the courage to pursue our dreams. If you’re like me, you’re dreaming of a better tomorrow, a better future for the generations to come. That’s something we all share because it really is a small world after all. So let’s make it a world of hope… together.
