We Bought A Zoo!
I love the movie “We Bought A Zoo.” It is one of those great movies that you can just sit back, relax, and enjoy a story with a lot of heart, whimsy, and not to mention, it’s a true story!
While watching it for the 4th or 5th time, I started to realize that this movie and the World Race have quite a bit in common.
Quick synopsis: Benjamin Mee has 2 children, Dylan, a 14 year old, and Rosie, a little girl in about 1st grade. Their mother dies and Benjamin decides to uproot his family for an adventure and to start anew. They end up buying a zoo that has been closed and needs a whole lot of fixing up. Along the way they come across a lot of hardship, fun, and whimsy.
The Language Barrier
Head Zoo Keeper Kelly (Scarlett Johansen) goes up to Benjamin (Matt Daman) one evening and gives him a laundry list of things that he needs to do for the animals, in Zoo Keeper jargon. Benjamin does not understand hardly any of this but wanting to pitch in he says yes to all of it. He and his family completely mess things up (letting all the snakes loose).
Out here on the Race, there are so many times we have absolutely no clue what is going on around us, what our contact is saying, and how to do things “their” way. The important thing though is that we say “yes” even though we had no idea what “yes” means. It’s about honoring those around you, because you have the heart to accept the challenge and the adventure and to just “go”. We don’t always get it right, but it is always an adventure in honor.
Love
You fall in love on the Race. Just like Dylan and Lilly (the pretty cousin of headkeeper Kelly who is Dylan’s age) they live alongside each other, work together at the zoo, and have much in common. Here on the Race there are so many opportunities to fall in love. You fall in love with your ministry location, the country you are in, the children you help along the way, and, of course, you can fall in love with your squadmates, though I say wait until after the Race.
Authority
So there’s this guy named Walter Ferris. He’s an inspector and has the authority to shut down the Zoo for good if everything is not up to code. Everyone scrambles around him to make sure everything looks good and is going according to plan. Although out here on the Race we are lucky to not have Walter Ferris we do have Squad Leaders and Team Leaders, Squad Parents and a Squad Coordinator. They come out every so often to check on us, nurture us, love us, and make sure everything is going well. They give us tough love when we need it, hugs when we don’t have our friends and parents from home to give them, and a shoulder to cry on. They love us through it all.
Scary Circumstances
Benjamin has a run in with their 650 lb North American Grizzly Bear, Buster. Somehow Buster escapes from his enclosure and is on the loose. He comes face to face with Buster and survives it. This was a very close encounter with death.
The Race is filled with scary circumstances. Sometimes our taxi swerves off the road into a ditch, sometimes we go into places we aren’t wanted and see scary people, sometimes we sleep in places we just pray are not broken into, and other times we get illnesses that are very dangerous. Ultimately we put our trust in God that we will always be okay and make it out alive, and we do.
There’s a scene where one of their tigers, Spar, gets stuck on a rock. Everyone has to shout and make loud noises for Spar to get off the rock (tigers hate loud noises). Benjamin ends up screaming about personal things and goes above and beyond making noise. There’s also another scene where Benjamin and his son, Dylan, really have it out and get their frustrations out in the open.
The Race is no stranger to “messy” times. There are plenty of times where we have disagreements out here. Sometimes we scream, sometimes we cry, sometimes we stalk off and need to be alone. It does get worked out, we are humans. What is important is learning how to live alongside each other and work the “messy” out. When we lack personal space and privacy, sometimes tension can build up. Thank goodness we have feedback to help prevent these outbursts.
Read on for part II, the conclusion of my thoughts on We Bought A Zoo!
