Introducing the Panyee Football (Soccer) Team in Thailand... Did I mention they live on floating village in the middle of the sea with not an inch of soil for a field? Watch a short film with subtitles based on a true 1986 story of a bunch of boys off a little island in the south of Thailand called "Koh Panyee" who loved watching soccer on TV and who just wanted to play.
Their flotilla really impressed me and it got me smiling, thinking of the forts and the projects my big brother enticed me to help build. My dad has trained him to use power tools and that took our ideas to a whole new level! At ten or eleven he actually made a secret passage way / trap door in our childhood home after being inspired by a Hardy Boys' mystery show & book series in the 1970's. Later the MacGyver series would provide inspiration for many other projects...
My brother figured out that the back of the closet door would open to the laundry room behind the water heater. He got out the power saw, the goggles, a triangle, the plumb line, hinges and screws, the whole works... When completed, he would host magic shows in our house basement, inviting neighborhood kids to come over and culminating with the trick of all tricks: He would put me in the closet as a loyal assistant and literally make me disappear. I'd run up the stairs and greet everyone outside even while some of the kids would guard the closet door. With the money we made from the kids who came day after day with a quarter to see the show, we bought extra nice presents that we gave that Christmas, tithed and gave to a church mission project. (Months later when we got caught, boy did we get in trouble for making the door! ! Later when we were reflecting back on childhood stories, Mom and Dad told us they had a hard time punishing us for a project he executed so well, our entrepreneurial spirit, our generosity).
My take home thoughts: These kids (like my brother) saw something on TV and tried to imitate art. The scene at the end of the short film with the soccer field is amazing! I believe that all kids have this special spirit inside if they don't get it crushed by well meaning grown-ups. What would happen if we all took an oath to not get in the way or stomp on someone else's vision? Even if we didn't pick up a hammer to HELP, what if we didn't CRUSH dreams? In the film, the community adults were scratching their heads and lightly teasing the kids --and they were won over in the end, even buying them uniforms. I wonder how many people have their great idea stifled by "joy robbers." This story celebrates tenacity and big vision...and fun! And you know what, not everyone will buy into the vision on the front end...I've been living that!
May we all keep chasing down our audacious dreams...may our ears be plugged so that we don't hear the "joy robbers..."and may we all have a MacGyver come alongside us with tools who knows how to use them! Blessings today!
