Overture, curtains, lights,
This is it, the night of nights
No more rehearsing and nursing a part
We know every part by heart
Overture, curtains, lights
This is it, you’ll hit the heights
And oh what heights we’ll hit
On with the show this is it
Tonight what heights we’ll hit
On with the show this is it!
“This Is It” is written by Mack David & Jerry Livingston and is the theme song to the Bugs Bunny Show.
What kind of nutty person leads with Bugs Bunny and segues into Shakespeare?
This one! Allow me this indulgence, please!
All the world’s a stage From As You Like It by William Shakespeare.
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then, the whining school-boy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then, a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then, the justice,
In fair round belly, with a good capon lined,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”
-Act II, Scene VII, Shakespeare’s As You Like It
Each new year, we are given a stage. On it, our lives will play out.
Moments will be shared. Promises will be made (and kept, forgotten or pushed aside). Words will be spoken (in love, haste, or carelessness).
New life will join us and others will need to go; some before their time.
There will be opportunities of growth and moments of childlike pranks on the playground.
We will gain knowledge and wisdom or lower ourselves to the lowest possible denominator. And yes, both are possible.
Beauty or ugliness, the high road or the low one, a hand reaching out or grasping back… it is all a part of the play that is our life.
There are others who will stop by like guest stars on a talk show. They may leave after their turn is up or scoot down on the couch to join in the conversation later.
We always direct ourselves, whether on our stage or as a guest star on someone else’s.
Respect your stage. Respect your audience. Respect yourself.
Tickets only go to those who enrich and uplift… who will applaud your successes. Put a velvet rope at the entrance. Only those with good intentions allowed in your audience.
Roll out a red carpet. You are a VIP.
This is your stage.
Claim it!
Happy new year one and all!
The Self-Help Whisperer® 