The Jungle Cruise opened at Disneyland Park on July 17, 1955. On this iconic Disney boat ride, you set sail on the dangerous and adventurous rivers of Asia, Africa and South America. Jungles are mysterious places, holding plenty of secrets to be discovered including alligators that snap, elephants that squirt their trunks at you and waterfalls that stop at just the right moment before you get soaked. This is all very exciting stuff except it’s only a ride with a formula for excitement.
I see Disney are releasing a film of this rides tour guide where all of the adventures he commentates on become real and he is thrust into the adventure of a lifetime!
Life can go two ways. We can choose to ride the formulaic adventure ride where we can predict the twists and turns and formulate where we think it will end OR we can take the real Jungle Cruise and find ourselves in unknown waters.
Teddy Roosevelt summed up the value of risk and participation beautifully when he uttered these great words. "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt
I want to live a life on unchartered waters where the mysterious rivers of adventure await. That’s where the excitement is. That’s where the opportunity is. That’s where Teddy Roosevelt’s arena is. It’s easy to take the theme park ride and kick back, but I say let’s take the ride of a lifetime into the great unknown.
Our arena awaits….where we may know the triumph of high achievement.
(For my friend Fraser and me after a great chat today)
