The Great American Jackalope

You know those great Pixar short films? My favorite is Boundin'. I haven't seen it in ages. I'll have to remedy that. But I was thinking about it today. I love the message of the story. It's great.

It starts like this:

Here's a story on how strange is life with its changes,
And it happened not long ago.
On a high mountain plain, where the sagebrush arranges,
A playground south of the snow.

Lived a lamb with a coat of remarkable sheen,
It would glint in the sunlight all sparkly and clean,
Such a source of great pride,
That it caused him to preen.

And he'd break out in high steppin' dance.
He would dance for his neighbors across the way.
I must say that they found his dancin' enhancin',
For they'd also join in the play.

So then the lamb is taken away and sheared. When he comes back his neighbors laugh at his new look. He feels pretty down.

Then a-boundin' up the slope,
Came a great American jackalope.
This sage of the sage, this rare hare of hope,
Caused to pause and check out the lamb.

"Hey kid, why the mope?"

"I used to be something all covered with fluff,
And I’d dance in the sunlight and show off my stuff.
Then they hauled me away in a manner quite rough,
And sheared me and dropped me back here in the buff.

And if that's not enough,
Now my friends all laugh at me,
Cause they think I look ridiculous, funny, and pink."

"Pink? Pink? Well, what's wrong with pink?
Seems you’ve got a pink kink in your think.
Does it matter what color? Well, that gets nope.
Be it pink, purple, or heliotrope.

Now sometimes you’re up and sometimes you're down,
When you find that you’re down well just look around.
You still got a body, good legs and fine feet,
Get your head in the right place and hey, you're complete!

"Now as for the dancin', you can do more,
You can reach great heights, in fact you can soar.
You just get a leg up and ya slap it on down,
And you’ll find you’re up in what’s called a bound.
Bound, bound, and rebound.

Bound and you’re up right next to the sky,
And I think you can do it if you give it a try,

First get a leg up, slap it on down."

The lamb learns to "bound."

So every year, along about May,
They’d load him up and they’d haul him away,
And they’d shave him and dump him all naked and bare.
He learned to live with it, he didn’t care,
He'd just bound, bound, bound, and rebound.

Now in this world of ups and downs,
So nice to know there are jackalopes around.

I love this. I used to quote it all the time. Let's look at the bold parts in particular. Life is full of ups and downs. Today had quite a few downs. There were some frustrations. But there were good parts too. I was contacted again about a job I applied for a while back, but the hours I was available wouldn't work, so I didn't get it again, but at least they contacted me again. This job had a lot of applicants. I was one of twelve interviewed and looks like I almost made it. Too bad, but it's still good that I was among the top picks.

I had a Spanish test today. I think I understood the listening questions better than any of the tests so far this semester. Normally I'm writing down what I understand as fast as I can so I can at least try to assemble what they said. This time for the most part I understood as they spoke and I could figure out the answer quickly.

The point of that was just that we can do as the jackalope directs in the story: when you're down, look around, see what you do have.

I also love the confidence the jackalope places in the lamb. You can do it. You can reach great heights, in fact you can soar. And it IS so nice to know there are jackalopes around who do the same for us! Our jackalopes can include family, friends, teachers, roommates, and most importantly, the Savior. He definitely wants us to soar. He wants us to be grateful and focus on the positive. And He will carry us to reach those great heights.

There are other great things I can pull out of Boundin' but I'd better get back to studying. I still have five more tests this week. But don't worry, I have plenty of jackalopes.