"Keep Moving Forward"

Friday night I took my yahoo's to see the new Disney animated feature Meet The Robinsons, a retro-futuristic film, that, in my mind, was a little Back To The Future-esque. It's a thrill a minute going to see a film at the theater with my guys, and when we see something as action-packed and adventurous as this one, it's an even cooler experience, it seems. I'll give my thumbs-up to the film, even if it doesn't quite reach Toy Story or Shrek status. I was much pleased with both the animation and the story line. I have to make a soul-baring confession, though. The feel-good ending got me all choked up, and when the central theme and lesson of the movie, "keep moving forward", was revealed to be drawn from a quote by my new-found hero Walt Disney, I had tears in my eyes. The movie closes with this profoud quotation:

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”–Walt Disney

I applaud the Disney desire to motivate and encourage us to reach forward and achieve great things...this is a beautiful motive. I'm elated to see that forty years after Walt Disney's death, his great company is carrying the torch he lit onward to a new generation of young people surrounded by their own struggles and difficulties. I'm about 60% of the way through Neil Gabler's biography of Walt, and I've read time and again how he overcame great obstacles and personal hardships to create this imagination factory we still recognize today as one of the greatest companies of all time. Knowing Walt Disney was a determined, hard-working, persistent individual, quotes like the one above have an even more profound impact.

The movie began, quite interestingly, with a short of Mickey, Donald & Pluto building a boat, entitled Boat Builders (Note: this hyperlink takes you to the page on bcdb.com, which is for the "Big Cartoon Database") I've been reading about the Disney shorts and the impact they had on the world of animation, and about Mickey and the impact he's had on the world, so although I've seen a boatload of the cartoons before, I'm watching now with a brand new enthusiasm.

Mickey specifically out of all of the Disney characters seems to be the most like Walt, what with his "pluck", aw-shucks persona and win-at-all-costs determination. Also found at the beginning of this latest Disney feature was a snapshot of Mickey in Steamboat Willie. As I was driving home the other night (we watched the late show, so it was after 11 p.m.), and my boys had dozed off, I began using my imagination a bit and wondering if there wasn't something to that interesting title, "Steamboat Willie". It was the first sound cartoon to gain widespread appeal, and thus was a pioneer in the world of animation. It was also early in the rise of Mickey as a national icon, and was enjoying great success when America was nearing the unprecidented financial crisis which was the Great Depression. In my mind's eye the other night, I quickly broke down the title and realized it was made up of all kinds of "keep moving forward" ideas.

1) "Steam..." I need not go into great detail, suffice it to say one of our more recognizable motivation phrases is "full-steam ahead".

2) "...boat..." Is there a stream, a wide-river, an ocean even in your way? No fear, build a boat and float across the depths until you reach your goal on the other side.

3) "...Will..." One dictionary defines "will" as "diligent purposefulness; determination". Cliche', yes, but I still love "where there's a will, there's a way".

4) "...i..." In a time where blaming others on our problems and dire circumstances is seemingly running rampant, it's quite important to realize that if we are to make it in life, we've got to depend on ourselves. There's a lot of power in having an "I can" attitude.

5) "...e" Finish it off with a little "e for effort", and we've got ourselves a veritable motivational address in two words that's enough to fuel the fulfilment of our dreams for the rest of our days.

In spite of failures, disappointments, setbacks, hardships, & difficulties...keep moving forward.