August 7, 2009

Recently while we were walking around the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, we came upon an interesting sight. There was a whole group of people walking around together, including a Disney tour guide - easily recognizable because of their distinctive uniforms - and a few security guards wearing suits in the summer heat and humidity so typical in Florida. And in the center of the group of about 15 people was a woman. It was obvious that she was the important one, because she even had someone following her around to hold an umbrella over her.

I have no idea who this woman was; she didn't look familiar to me. Of course, while I do usually have a good idea of who most celebrities are, I don't always recognize everyone. But I did gather by the fact that the sport-coated security guards were not having to beat people away that this woman wasn't a huge mega-star.

We ran into the group a couple of times. The most interesting was when we walked past Splash Mountain, the log flume water ride, and saw the woman and one of her security guards riding past us in one of the logs. The woman was enjoying her ride, as most people do. The guard, in the back seat of the log, was just sitting there staring straight ahead. Maybe he was trying to concentrate on whatever danger he might imagine his client might be in. Or maybe he was just hot. Or mad that water splashed on his sport coat.

Now maybe this is all based just a little on jealousy, knowing that I'll never be able to afford a private tour where we get to skip all the lines to the attractions. But really, I don't have much problem with that. I've run across those groups before, and as long as they don't have to shut down the whole attraction while the one important person rides it, I don't mind too much. One of the advantages of having some extra money, I suppose.

But what really caught my eye with all this was the guy who held the umbrella to keep the sun off of the woman. Perhaps he should have been riding Splash Mountain with her to hold the umbrella over her during the big splashes of water. But I don't think he did.

I wondered how it must feel to be so important that you have someone to do that for you. I don't have anyone to do that for me. If I were to ask some of my friends to follow me around all day holding an umbrella over me to keep the sun off, they would just laugh at me. I can hear them now: "Why don't you carry your own umbrella? Or just stay in the shade?" I'm sure this guy that I saw was getting paid for his shade services, but I'm not about to pay someone to do that. So I just put on some extra sunscreen and grab a hat on the way out the door.

I also wondered about the guy carrying the umbrella. I hope his pay was good. And he did get to go to the Magic Kingdom for the day. I wondered if he got to ride all the rides, or if he just had to wait at the exit with the umbrella in the ready position. Does he ever stop and think, "What am I doing carrying an umbrella for someone while I myself am out in the hot sun?" I'm not sure I would be paid enough for that.

Looking back on it all, I hope that I would probably feel just a bit guilty about all that. About having someone to follow me around doing such a meaningless task. If for some reason I ever get to that point in life, I hope some of my friends will point out just how silly that actually is. Because if you ever think that you are important, sooner or later you will probably find out you aren't quite as important as you think you are.

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." - Luke 14:7-11

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