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Published: April 24th 2010
Jambon from Kenya! I feel like I'm in the real part of Africa now. There's so much culture and soul in the country. It's a different way of life here and it's enlightening. It feels like I'm part of nature again instead of part of a human society. I got to dance with a tribe!Haha, I was way out of rhythm but it was fun. They also have this jumping competition that all the males do to impress the ladies. I wouldn't be able to impress anyone because they were jumping way higher than me. Something amazing happened the other day. Someone said to me, " In Kswahili, we have a saying... Hakuna Matata. Do you know what it means?" What!? A spring of childhood excitement came flooding over me.
I knew it Somebody told me that word was made-up by Disney! All these years, I had doubted the authenticity of the best movie in the world: Lion King. I was over joyous. I never had this kind of feeling before, it made me feel like a chubby little boy again. I broke out singing to the person, "It means no worries, for the rest of your days, it's our
problem-free philosophy, Hakuna Matata!"
Believe in Magic Every family has a quirky hobby that they love to do. Our family is
all about the magic tricks. My dad is the master magician while my
brother and I are the apprentices. Mom, Julie and Maggie are always
our test subjects to practice on and sometimes they even act as our
accomplices! The obsession with magic started way back in the day,
when my dad was a kid working at his parents' bowling alley. There was
this mysterious guy who was always performing magic tricks for
everybody. My dad snuck behind him and spied on his every move.
He learned the secrets and that's how his journey as an amateur
magician began.
My dad's biggest magic performance came 30 years later behind closed
doors. More specifically, it was in a conference room with a lot of
serious Japanese bankers and investors who were deciding if his
company should go public. At the time, the Japanese blocked themselves
off from foreign companies and no foreign company has ever been
allowed an IPO. On top of that, Taiwanese people weren't seen as
equals mostly because Japan colonized Taiwan for a
period of time. So
imagine a room full of solemn businessmen who don't trust foreigners
and are now deciding the fate of a Taiwanese man. My playful dad
decides to break the tension and say, "Do you want to see magic?"
Haha, the next thing you know, he's busting out all his magic in front
of them. But he wasn't trying to be smooth to impress or mystify
them. In fact, from what he told me, he screwed up more times than he succeeded. But the Japanese were laughing when he clumsily messed it up and were applauding loudly when he succeeded. It was a win-win situation because everybody was enjoying themselves and the tension
melted away. He gained their trust and Trend Micro Co. became the
first foreign company to ever break into the Japanese market. Who
would've thought that magic was the key to opening up the heavy
fortress put up against foreigners?
I fell in love with the idea of magic when I first watched a Disney
movie. Disney made me truly believe that magic exist. Flying carpets,
talking animals, magic mirror, Pinocchio, Wonderland and Neverland.
Disney is the only company to ever put the word
'magic' in their
company mission statement. Walt Disney was the master behind making
people believe in magic. When he first introduced cartoons to the
world, it opened up a box of magic. It was enchanting because
absolutely anything can happen in cartoons. Every single Disney movie
has one thing in common: it's magical. He then had his 'imagineers'
create a Disneyland so that he could bring magic into the real world.
After watching Aladdin and going to Disneyland, it's hard for a kid
not to believe that magic truly exist. I was mad when I went to a Peter Pan play because Tinker Bell didn't sprinkle me with her magic dust that would make me fly! In my mind, magic was real and
I used Disney as proof.
As I grew older, I started to believe in magic less and less. The
innocence of believing in the impossible was over because science was
teaching me that there's an answer to everything. But that all changed
4 years ago when I met a 9 year old at Yi-Lang elementary school in
Taiwan. My dad took Maggie and I to meet this girl who had 'special
powers.' She was shy
and a little bit nervous to demonstrate her
ability to us. The teacher told us to secretly write any number on a
piece of paper. We wrote the number down, the teacher took it and
slipped it into a black bag, then he tells her to guess the number. She
puts her hand on the bag and within a few seconds, she said "57".
Which, of course she was right.
Lucky guess. Let's do it again. This time we choose any color pen to write a number down. It takes her
a little longer this time, but she still got it right.. number 32,
with a red pen. We were shocked but still very skeptical. So we
secretly wrote down a number and instead of putting it in the black
bag, we put it in a black film container. AND she wasn't allowed to
touch the container to prove that this wasn't a magic trick. She just
sat on her chair, shyly gazing around and talking to her friend until
the image of the number would naturally come to her mind. Blue, 62.
NO WAY! I don't believe this. This can't be a magic trick because
I know all the magic tricks.
One more time. This time, we walk really far and write the number down so nobody can possibly see. Then
we tape the container shut and bring it back. The image of the number
was coming to her but it was interrupted by recess time! As she left
the room, we decide to be a little bit cruel to see if this was for
real. My dad draws a picture of a triangle with three circles. He
cleverly replaces the original paper with the picture and tapes the container
back up. When she came back for recess, she was having the toughest
time trying to see the image. I was starting to feel bad because we
confused this poor little girl's mind. After 30 minutes, she says she
can't see the number in her head, but she sees something else and then
the impossible happened... she drew a triangle with three circles!
Identical to the one in the container. We were dumbfounded. Absolutely
shocked. We were witnessing magic, real-life magic right before our
eyes. Some call it telepathy, psychic ability, precognition or some other
scientific name but to me, the kid inside wants to call it magic.
Club Cub Fun!
So many cubs playing around! Bunch of baby SimbasI
can't expect anybody to believe me, but what the 3 of us experienced
was very, very real. I got to tell you, there's no other feeling like
discovering magic is real. Usually, I'm the one who tries to convince
kids that magic exists but this time, that shy little girl turned me
into a believer.
After that wonderful experience, I started to learn more magic tricks
so I can give other kids the same feeling that was given to me.
Although most of us are too old to believe that magic exists, the
younger kids sincerely believe it. I love performing magic to them
because the expressions on their cute little faces are priceless.
Their eyes twinkle with their jaws ajar. Some of these African kids get really
spooked because they've never seen magic before and so they run away
from me. Others even start to check their ears to see if they can pull
more coins out from behind there like I did! I make it extra special
(or corny) when I perform magic to the kids so that I really sell it
to them. They have no idea what's going on and when they ask me
how I
did it, I tell them "It's magic, real magic." I convince them that one
day they can do it too but they have to believe more than anyone else.
They got to have strong hope for everything if they want the magic
power. Of course, some of them believe it because as adults like to
say, " Kids are stupid", haha. But out of these hundreds of kids I
show magic to, maybe just one of them will take my words seriously and
hope for the best. After all, the idea of magic should make people more hopeful,
not more doubtful.
It's important to keep the mystery because that's the whole point of
magic. The mystery behind it drives people insane. They try so hard to
figure it out but can't figure it out. They keep replaying it in their
heads, but no matter what they do, they can't find the answer. Once
they exhaust all logical possibilities, then that's when the magic
starts to emerge. Their mind moves from the logic side to the
imaginative side. "Hmm... maybe the magical dust he sprinkled really
did make that coin disappear" or " I think he really cut
her in half
and put her back together." or even " David Blaine really is magical
because he can levitate in the air." I know, it's all impossible
because there is no such thing as magic, right? But the real magic is
that the magician crushed all your logical answers and convinced you
to cede to your imaginative side. Even if it was for one second, your
mind entertained the idea that magic really does exist. All magic is
trying to do is make you step out of the harsh reality for one second
and let your mind dream of the idea that there's something more than
what meets the eye. So, you see? The magic is in the mystery, not in
the trick.
The best magic I ever performed was the one that I can't take credit
for. Every year, our Vesta Foundation brings 100 Taiwanese students to
the slums of Philippine to help build houses. I show these kids magic
and so all the kids call me "magic". That gave me the idea to shift
the program's focus towards creating magic for the community. It was a
tough idea to explain to my team leaders but I
sensed that they
understood the magic we could bring to the community with the right
type of charisma. Always smile, Never give up. Open up your inner kid.
Work happily. There's no other word to describe the trip except that
it was magical. We created a big carnival for the community and it's
the closest thing to a magical experience that they kids have ever
encountered. It was like a mini-Disneyland and you could really feel
the magic in the air. But the grand finale to the trip was when we
created Taiwanese sky lanterns on the last night. We got all the kids
and parents to write their wishes on the sky lantern. They've never
seen a sky lantern before so they had no idea what we were going to do
next. We slowly lit the fire up inside the lantern, let the lantern
get puffy, then we released it. The lantern started flying so high up in the sky it seemed to blend in as a star. Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY was
screaming in pure excitement. It was a bewildering experience. A week
later, I returned to the same community with my second group of
volunteers. A
King Mufasa
I wonder why I trust Scar? little 12 year old girl runs up to me and says,
"Kuya(brother) Victor, Kuya Victor! I want to thank you so much. Thank
you, thank you! I wrote my wish on the sky lantern and it came true! I
wished my mommy would be able to find work again and she found a job!
Thank you so much for your magic, thank you!" I was speechless and so
very touched.
This little girl is now fully convinced that magic is, without a
doubt, real. I didn't create the magic though. The sky lantern didn't
create the magic either. But some part of me believes that the undying
hope and support that girl has for her mother created the magic. When
you believe in something with so much hope, sometimes without a
rational explanation, it comes true. I grew up with a magician as a
dad, watched enchanting Disney movies, met a telepathic girl and
experienced magic within a community. I've experienced magic in every way and it has taught me one valuable lesson: The first step to anything, is to believe.
-" And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you
because the greatest secrets
Going Tribal
We're demonstrating how to kill a lion.. He said he's killed 2 lions already are always hidden in the most unlikely
places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it. "
Roald Dahl
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Maggie
non-member comment
what AMAZING photos!!! Kenya looks like a fabulous place. Give simba a big kiss for me!