FUN: “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and ‘snap’, the job’s a game.”

Movie quote from: Mary Poppins (1964) - Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews)

In the 1964 film Mary Poppins, there's a problem in the Banks family.  Everybody is too serious.  Mr. Banks is a pompous banker who hardly knows or cares for his children.  Mrs. Banks scampers about keeping things structured for her husband while pursuing her own quest for female freedom.  Nannies pour through the house, none of them able to give the unstructured children what they really need.  Into this mix comes the magical Mary Poppins, as played by the Oscar-winning Julie Andrews.  She teaches them all how to appreciate life and enjoy each other.  We all need a spoonful of Mary Poppins now and then, reminding us quite literally to 'lighten up' in our day-to-day life.    

Too many people live like the Banks family.  Rather than enjoying real time together, parents separate themselves with what Mr. Banks calls "the tools" - tradition, discipline and rules.  At work or school, our brow stays furrowed all day, grinding out production one step at a time.  Every now and then, these people lament the loss of playfulness, laughter, and good old fun.  Who ever said those things were somewhere else?

Mary Poppins teaches the Banks family how to find the fun in the things we do every day.  The people she introduces the children to all underatand that you don't laugh because you feel good, you feel good because you laugh.  So they laugh.  They lighten up.  Uncle Albert's laughed so much he floated to the ceiling.  Bert showed them how to find joy in sidewalk paintings.  Mary shows how to make chores into a game.  Brilliant stuff we should all pay attention to.         

Although P.L. Travers wrote the book, it was Walt Disney's genius to make Mary Poppins a breath of fresh air.  The Mary Poppins film should be consumed annually, reminding us every year to stop taking ourselves so seriously.  Once we accept that no family or job can be perfect, Mary Poppins reminds us to put the fun back in the dysfunction.        

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