Recently 3 female colleagues and I had won a private screening for 40 people in
a 10K team run. Finding it hard to get 40 people wanting to see the same movie at the same time among our families and friends, we decided to offer the prize to people from Tricentenaire, on of the charities that Create and Connect works with.
The prize was foreseen in a small theater but when we explained our plan, the lovely people from Caramba offered us their biggest room (which seats 500 people) to allow access for all the wheelchairs.
So last week, we took some disabled people to the cinema to see Kung Fu Panda 2.
Our guests arrived in a bus and at first, the contact with them was a bit strange. We felt out of our comfort zone. Some of them approached us, fearless, shook our hands, said hi, introduced themselves and some even hugged us. It felt strange and a bit scary at first.
After we got all the wheelchairs out of the bus, we moved upstairs where popcorn and drinks were bought and some words and glances were exchanged.
It didn’t take long for us to dive right in and we wheeled them around into the theater where they exclaimed in oh’s and ah’s at the largeness and newness of both the room and the experience.
When everyone was comfortably installed, the movie began and during the hour and a half, gulps, cries, laughter and shouts could be heard.
Afterwards, when I asked a young man how he liked the movie, he said nothing but painted a path on his cheeks that his tears had taken. Several times afterwards he came back to me, touched my arm and drew the path on his cheek.
Tears at Kung Fu Panda. Who’d have thought that? And laughter, lots of it. Especially from one small, always smiling woman who was squealing during half of the movie, even when the scene clearly asked for a different reaction.
It goes to show that we are all different and have different reactions to the same things. Where one laughs, the other cries.
After a trip to the bathroom, we helped install them all again into their bus and waved them goodbye. When the bus had gone, we were still standing there. Stunned. Amazed. Touched. Speechless. During the short encounter, we had been given a little glimpse into the lives of less fortunate people. They gave us a gift. A gift of gratitude for the things that we have. They put our everyday problems into perspective. And getting that lessons from time to time feels good.
- They showed us that you should be fearless despite everything, go for it and plunge into meeting new people.
- They taught us that laughter and tears should be let out when they need to.
- They illustrated that having a reaction contrary to everyone else is brave.
- They displayed that being yourself is powerful.
The outing was inspiring, and we loved the lessons in shaping serendipity, being scared shitless and trying to be fearless.
What experience can you have this week that takes you out of your comfort zone and teaches you something?