Why Not?

by Ella Smith

​In a favorite movie of mine, “I Bought a Zoo,'' a man named Benjamin Mee has recently lost his wife.  He starts looking for a new house because he feels like he needs to get away from their old life and eventually comes upon a house that he believes to be perfect.  As their real estate agent, Mr. Stevens, tells him that he may be wrong, he finally gets Mr. Mee’s complete attention and tells him that it’s a zoo.  As he sadly goes to get his young daughter, Rosie, he finds her with the peacocks.  He realizes that this house really is perfect and he begins to work on the rundown zoo with his employees.  As the story goes on, at one point, one of the zookeepers asks him why, why did he decide to move out in the middle of nowhere and put his money into fixing up this old zoo?  He responds with two simple yet meaningful words that leave her speechless.  “Why not?”
    Those two words mean so much.  Why not take that class?  Why not go and talk to that person?  Why not?  You may be able to think of a million reasons you might not want to.  Maybe you’re afraid that you’ll embarrass yourself or that you might be horrible at something completely new.  But, aren’t these things just part of daily life?  Won’t you embarrass yourself some other time or maybe be horrible at a subject in school?  Why would you pass up that opportunity or that short burst of courage to think of all the reasons why not to do it?  Go out of your comfort zone because, why not?  You can have the courage, just like Mr. Mee. In a recent meeting of the newspaper, we watched a video by a man named Prince Ea. In this video he told a story about a man who found an eagle egg on his way walking home, and he put it in a coop with some chickens.  The eagle grew up thinking that it was nothing more than a chicken.  He thought that he couldn’t soar like an eagle, or as the chickens put it, be the king of the skies.  Don’t be the eagle in that story.  You can soar, but not if you always think of what could go wrong. I’m going to close with a quote from “I Bought a Zoo.” It says, “You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery.  And I promise you, something great will come out of it.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqTyOCSXO9Q

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