So, instead of going out on a Saturday night I’m at home doing laundry, dishes, etc. Watching Akeelah and the Bee. There’s a point in this movie where the two finalists have a conversation about giving it their all. They shine with all their knowledge and therefore, give each other the permission to shine as well. As they run through the 25 championship words they cheer each other on, taking joy in each success and in the success of their competitor. This is truly Win-Win. By being our most excellent, extraordinary, highest selves, we know that nothing that anyone else does can take away from us. Call it trust, faith or just calm…these children know and express something that adults rarely see and almost never believe in… Your success does not take away from me…it does not diminish me. On the contrary, your success floods me with success. Why is it that as children we are capable of seeing this and expressing it and that as adults we almost completely lose the capacity to see it?

At an earlier point in the movie Akeelah reads a quote attributed to Nelson Mandela, “Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves: who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people wont feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It’s not just in some: it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Actually this quote is from a book by Marianne Williamson, one of my favorite inspirational authors. It really addresses my fears: being powerful, brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous. Many of us seem to be afraid of being to smart, funny, rich or hardworking so we play down our strengths and this diminishes the entire energy of the universe.
It reminds me of an experience I had with preschoolers this year. There was a box, large enough for one child to fit in, not large enough for more than one child. One of the children’s father’s decided that before he left that morning that he would drive this box around the room at high speed. Each child took a turn. They all trusted that they would get their turn. There was no fighting over whose turn it was…they took joy in each others’ joy. As each child took their turn the other children laughed and clapped as if they too were in the box. If they had already gone they might have remembered how great it felt. If they hadn’t gone yet they were still anticipating the joy they themselves would feel…their own joy fed the joy of the group, which fed joy back to each child.  How smart these children are. How intuitive. No jealousies erupted. No harsh words spoken. Just love and joy, enjoyment, anticipation, shared enthusiasm.
How is that as adults we come to fear other’s successes? Personal and professional, there’s not enough for all of us to play. We never get enough turns. When it’s our turn we spend the time thinking of how it will end. When it’s not our turn we feel jealous and resentful. We never live in the moment as adults…WHY? So busy thinking of all the other things going on around us? So many experiences that tell us not to celebrate little victories, because they’re not really that important. Not to experience big victories because after a big victory comes a big let-down. We have become so afraid of living the lives we imagine that we chose to live the unimagined life.
This is why I teach…How can we create a generation of children who will live their lives in celebration and victory? Only by living lives in celebration and victory and not just celebrating our own, individual successes. We must celebrate with people around us. We must truly experience their moment as if it is our moment, their moment does not take away from us, it only creates new possibilities of potential moments. We must see their joy as our joy, their celebration as ours, their victories as our victories. The collective power that comes from celebrating each other and the positive energy that is then created is, in fact, unstoppable. Mahatma Gandhi said, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” As we BE the change, we change the world. As we celebrate with each other, encourage each other and live our own extraordinary lives we change the world.
Akeelah ends the movie with this line, that I think really sums it all up, “You know the feeling where everything feels right? Where you don’t have to worry about yesterday or tomorrow? Where you feel safe and know you’re doing the best you can? There’s a word for that…Love. L-O-V-E.”
With great respect to Marianne Williamson, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Wilhite and Doug Atchison who wrote Akeelah and the Bee and to all philosophers who work to raise the consciousness in our world.