Yes, And for Kids: The World’s Greatest Trick!

Hello everyone, Travis Thomas here, performance coach, Live Yes And. And so I'm joining you today because starting today on my Patreon, I am starting a Yes And for Kids. That's right, Yes And for Kids. I'm going to be, uh, including a video at the beginning of every week, a story, a concept, an idea that kids can relate to Something that will help them from an emotional, a mental, a leadership standpoint throughout the week. And it's— I've always enjoyed working with young people, working with kids, and I'm really excited to bring this new concept to my Patreon page. My Patreon page is Live Yes And at Patreon, and for $5 a month, I will be having this subscription video for kids. And so what I wanted to do is I wanted to share with you guys today today. And, uh, I'm actually going to share with you all, uh, a story that I wrote, uh, about 9 years ago. I was in Starbucks one morning, it was a Sunday morning, and I was just getting some work done. And, uh, this kind of like this fit of inspiration sort of came to me and I listened to it. And, and believe it or not, I, I remember the Starbucks I was sitting in here in Jupiter and Abacoa, and I just started writing. This concept kept coming. And I wrote for like 30 minutes, 45 minutes straight, didn't stop writing. And when I was done, I was like, wow, like, this is kind of a cool story. And I called it The World's Greatest Trick. And so I would like to share it with you all right now. I had to go back and like find it like 9 years ago. Where is this thing? And I'm like, oh, I got to make a few tweaks here just to clean it up a little bit. But here it is. It's probably, you know, read— I don't know, I haven't read it out loud. It's probably going to be in the 5 to 10 minute range. And so this is my first story for children. But if you're an adult and you are watching this, I think you'll get something out of it too. All right, here we go. The World's Greatest Trick, written by Travis Thomas. A long time ago, there was a village where everyone lived together in peace. This was not a utopian place or perfect by any stretch, but it was a community where everyone genuinely looked out for and cared for one another. It was a diverse community, and it was these differences that made the village so special. No matter who you were, what you looked like, where you lived, what you believed in, or how many talents you had, you were a special part of the community. No one felt more important than anyone else. If one person was in need, everyone did what they could to help out. They saw themselves as interconnected. Farmers needed the shopkeepers and vice versa. The elders mentored the children and the children taught the elders. There was never a shortage of food, shelter, or supply because people used what they needed and when they had more, they shared it. There was no need of hierarchy or law because each person held each other accountable. Every action was seen as impacting everyone and everything, and everyone felt their connection to every choice and action taken. If one person suffered, everyone suffered. If one person succeeded, the whole village succeeded. Competition existed, but it wasn't called competition. It was called cooperation or collaboration. People strived to be the best they could be Because they knew it would inspire others to do the same and create even greater opportunities. Apparently, there was another village far away that had a name for this concept. It was called Ubuntu. People believed that by helping you do your best, they could be at their best, and when they were at their best, you could be at your best. Anyway, so our community of cooperation, they had a rich vocabulary. There were words, but there were a few words that didn't exist. They had no word for value. The idea behind the word didn't exist because everyone had it. There was no opposite to it. It came intact and didn't need to be earned. No one had more of it, just as no one had less. They believed that everything worked together in harmony with one another. Every need that arose was filled by whoever could meet the need at that moment. Instead of rushing around frantic and in distress, they let things unfold naturally, in sort of a divine order. No one ever felt on the outside because there was nothing to be outside of. Like a finger on your hand, despite its differences to the other fingers, they are all from the same source. Despite the space between the fingers, or to 2 ideas. There wasn't separation. There was only one. Life was challenging, complex, and sometimes hard, but there was a simplicity and clarity of taking things day by day, moment by moment, without ever getting too far ahead of themselves. Then one day, as if out of nowhere, they saw a poster hanging in the town square. It read, Ego, the World's Greatest Magician. One night, one show only, one trick. Ho ho! Excited about the opportunity to see a magic show, every single member of the community showed up to be entertained. For his only trick, the mysterious Ego vowed to hypnotize the entire audience. One by one, he invited members of the village up to the stage and stood them next to one another. He introduced new words and used the members of the village to illustrate his trick. He pointed out differences between the villagers and labeled some things better than others. He gave them bags of coins with unequal amounts inside. He told them to divide the coins based on the differences he had defined. Then, to finalize the trick, he gave all of the villagers a wrist-wearing machine called A watch. And he explained how the numbers worked and how they calculated a thing called time. The villagers had never had a concept of such a thing. And then as the villagers began to play with the coins, fiddle with these watches, and look more closely at each other— poof! Ego was gone. The villagers were confused. This was the worst magic show they'd ever seen. No rabbits, no humans sawed in half. Not even a single card trick. Whatever hypnotic magic trick he tried to perform obviously didn't work. Upset and tired, the villagers went home and tried to forget about Ego's tricks. Besides, none of it made sense. For weeks, the villagers went around carrying these watches Ego had given them. It was kind of cool because they realized all their watches told the same time. They tried fun experiments of trying to meet each other at places using their watches. Some of the villagers discovered they could organize part of their day better by using their watch. Others realized there was only a certain amount of time from sunrise to sundown. From this, they invented a new word called limited. For the first time in their lives, they saw that this idea of time didn't go on forever. Other words started to spring up: lack, priority, sacrifice, hurry, stress, late. Villagers started to say funny things like, not having enough time. Instead of letting the order of the day unfold, they began to try to order the day. Some people used a new word called Control. And they actually believed they could dictate their day by scheduling their time. Some people started talking about the funny exercise the magician did by pointing out differences in the villagers. They thought it was humorous. They remembered the new words he used, like ugly, attractive, and different. It didn't really make sense, but they began to jokingly refer to each other in these terms. Soon everyone in the village knew what the jokes meant. Another group of villagers started making up games based on Ego's bag of coins. They thought of fun and creative ways to decide who got coins and how. They created words like winner and loser. Winners got coins. Losers lost coins. Since the coins were so pretty, villagers would give each other things in order to get more coins. They started to create more and more ways of how to earn coins. Over time, things in the village began to change. People started to become really distracted with trying to get coins. People that didn't have coins felt like they were missing out, which only made them want more. Villagers with the most coins started spending more time with one another. People also got used to describing each other based on how they looked. It became comfortable to hang out with people who looked like you. It made them feel important. And what started out as fun experiments with watches turned into an obsession. People rushed around, always looking at the time, trying to get as much done as possible, especially when it came to getting coins. They weren't even sure why they liked the coins or why they were in a hurry. But it must be important because everyone else was doing the same thing. They started to call things that got them coins good and things that got in the way bad. Even if things— even if the bad things were people. A new word formed as the villagers began labeling each other more and more. Separate. The village didn't operate like it once did. As villagers tried to get more coins and get more done, they began to care less about other villagers. It really wasn't always a malicious thing. It was just a lot harder to think about others while in the pursuit of getting more. Besides, many villagers believed that once they got enough, they would be able to share more with others. Instead of meeting the current need of the community, villagers planned for their future. Besides, there was no guarantee of how long they would have their coins, so they needed to save. In doing so, villagers began to create and do things that wasn't always in the best interest of the whole community. But since some villagers were better than others, it was easier to sacrifice their needs. It wasn't personal, it wasn't personal, just a matter of value. The village was no longer a community. It had been a long time since the word one was used outside of the context of a monetary number. Despite being different fingers connected to the same hand, the villagers believed they were separate, disconnected, disjointed. It was a lot easier to, to discount each other if they believed they were separate. Some villagers felt so separate and alone And desperate, they would act out in ways that made no sense. It was senseless. This was scary. It created fear in the other villagers. Instead of seeing this fear as a yearning for love, compassion, and community, the villagers responded by furthering the gap and creating greater separation. In fact, some went as far as asking villagers to find a new home. to leave the village. They were too different. At some point over time, the villagers forgot what the word community actually meant. It had become every villager for themselves. Years later, Ego the Magician came back through town to check on his trick. What he saw only made him smile. There were the villagers, all running around wildly in pursuit of an idea that held no value, measuring their moments on an instrument with no real power, and defining their relationships on details with no real substance. Right in front of them was everyone and everything they needed, and all they needed to do was stop, And see it for themselves. But they couldn't. Not while they were being hypnotized in the world's greatest trick. The spell could be broken at any moment, and all it would take is a few people to step out of the trick, the illusion, and expose the lie to everyone else in the village. Sure, it might take a little time and effort, As well as a lot of ridicule and courage. But those brave enough to carry the torch knew what was at stake. Because once you see the lie behind the trick, the trick has no power. So ignoring the truth is not an option. Or is it? So if you were a member of this village and you knew the truth, what would you do? The beginning. All right, everyone, that is my children's story, The World's Greatest Trick. And I promise my weekly videos on my Patreon page are not going to be long like that. They're going to be like 2 to 3 minute videos, but I wanted to film this one and share it, as you can share it with whoever you choose. And if you want to check out or subscribe to my Yes, And for Kids, make sure you check out my Patreon at Live Yes, And. That's it, everybody. Awesome. Have a great day. Bye.