Don’t Stop Believing in a Good World

My friend, Jill, tells this story.

Jill and her daughters were riding the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios in Orlando. Lisa, age 11, sat near her mother. Annie, age 7, sat on the outside.

The ride was a machine that moved and rocked in a totally dark room. As the machine rocked and jolted, three-dimensional creatures of huge proportion — including all of the dinosaurs in the movie — appeared to be coming at Jill and her children. The experience was meant to be scary, multisensory, and thrilling.

For 7-year-old Annie, it was overwhelming and frightening.

Jill tried to talk to Annie, but the noise of the constant roaring swallowed up what Jill was saying. All Jill could do was pass a message. She said to her daughter, Lisa, “Tell Annie to close her eyes and cover her ears.”

Lisa did just as her mom told her. But Annie wouldn’t do it. She was in the dark, unhappy, and wanted none of the situation. She also wasn’t too sure of the messenger . . . anyone with older siblings can understand that.

“You’re trying to trick me,” Annie said to Lisa. “I want to go outside.”

The little girl was afraid to believe. She only saw things getting worse and worse. Lisa was devastated that she couldn’t help her little sister.

When they got outside, Lisa and Annie had a long talk. They promised to keep each other safe always.

We first learn the world by believing what people tell us. We ask questions. Sometimes the answers stay the same. Sometimes the answers match what we see around us. From all of that, we make our own belief of how the world works.

Then one day, the world offers up a Jurassic Park ride, and life gets confusing. We wonder what we should be believing. Could it ever possibly be right to close our eyes and cover our ears? Sometimes maybe it is the right answer.

Every Jurassic Park ride offers a promise.

If we go outside, we find the sky isn’t falling. The ground beneath our feet is steady. With a little love, we can fit that scary bit into our world view without destroying our vision of the universe.

Two little girls did that. Imagine the impact, if we all did the same thing.

We can change the world, just like that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss