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I experienced history lessons at a very young age in quite the unique manner. I learned about Russian history, Tsars and Judaism, Nazis, the Third Reich and its effect on Austrians, as well as the Great Depression, Hoovervilles and the New Deal. Instead of reading about it, I was enacting history via Broadway musicals with a performing arts society by the age of 7. From “Fiddler on the Roof”, “The Sound of Music” and “Annie” just to name a few, I was deeply impacted by those experiences and it fueled my quest to understand history, religion, culture and social studies more than any textbook ever could enthuse.
I’ve been inspired to revisit my love for the story of Little Orphan Annie. Originally brought to life as a weekly comic strip, the tale of Annie is one most are familiar; staged in New York City circa 1933 amidst the backdrop of the Great Depression, this fictional 11-year-old spunky red-head lives amongst dozens of other young girls in an orphanage, performing menial labor, all dreaming one day a nice couple will adopt them, or as Annie believes whole-heartedly, “My parents are comin’ for me someday.”
Annie is hosted at the mansion of Oliver Warbucks, Billionaire Tycoon, as week-long press-stunt to garner favorable perceptions of the rich helping the poor, and she effortlessly charms her way into his heart. She inspires President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor with her sunny vocals, ‘The Sun will Come Out Tomorrow’ rousing hope, as the President launches a campaign, “the New Deal” to help Americans recover from the Great Depression and get back on their feet to recovery.
After discovering through a nationwide hunt that her parents are deceased and not coming back to get her, Annie is adopted by Daddy Warbucks and we imagine they live happily ever after.
Lately I’m struck by a few common parallels between the musical, “Annie” and present day happenings, in both American history and my own life. We are in the worst economic state since the Great Depression, people are seriously hurting financially, and the light at the end of the tunnel is a good further distance. Thousands are taking to the streets to protest, Americans are losing homes by the droves, some forced to live with family, other reduced to shacks, tents and the street. There are very few in the position of major wealth, and the bulk of the scale is tipped in the other direction. People are starving for hope, many blame our current President, demanding a different candidate who will bring real change, relief, recovery and reform… a “new deal” to get America on a more balanced path.
My oh my, so many similarities.
Albeit naively altruistic, the lyrics from little orphan Annie are simplistically profound right now:
The sun’ll come out tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow
There’ll be sun!
Just thinkin’ about tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs, and the sorrow
‘Til there’s none!
When I’m stuck with a day
That’s gray, and lonely,
I just stick out my chin
And grin, And say, Oh!
The sun’ll come out tomorrow
So ya gotta hang on ’til tomorrow
Come what may
Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow!
You’re always a day a way!
Even though we may not see the sun through fog, rain, or clouds, we know it’s going to rise every day and that brings me great comfort knowing I get to ‘start anew’ or I get a ‘do-over’ when I wake up in the morning, regardless of how my prior day resulted. We are powerful creators, and creating in every moment whether that be consciously or unconsciously. It is simply a choice. We just decide to: maintain a positive attitude, decide to surround ourselves with uplifting people, decide to make a change in our beliefs, behavior, and habits vs. repeating the same over and over again, thereby getting the same undesired results. We decide to view this challenging time, rather as a period of tremendous opportunity. We simply decide and commit.
…” the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.” -Goethe
At age 7 my father sat me down and asked, “Amie do you want to play the part of Marta in the Sound of Music?” as he explained it would require work memorizing lines, singing, dancing, and acting in front of large audiences during multiple performances. Even at that early age I responded with clear indignance, “Yes I can do it!” In retrospect I am so grateful to my parents for encouraging not only my early performing arts career, but more importantly, instilling the notion to believe in myself and I was capable of anything, if I decided so.
We all experience pivotal moments in our lives, and I remember one in 1988 that literally help shape the Amie Chilson before you today. Eager to learn of the next annual production on the docket, I called our Performing Arts Society Director and asked him what musical to anticipate. He told me, “We are performing the musical ‘Annie’.” I recall it like yesterday, and I blurted out with absolute certainty, “I’m your Annie!”
Cutting to the chase, I got the part. To this day I am convinced it was not due to my performance skills, because there were 60 other girls aggressively auditioning for the role, many of which who had better voices, more experienced acting abilities, red hair, or parents who actively contributed substantial resources to our society and schools, as well as maintained political ties within the community. What I am convinced of, is that I believed with such passion that I’d play Little Orphan Annie, and through my pure visualization of the end result and embodiment of the role with zero seeds of doubt, there could only be one person for the part: Amie Chilson.
There were a number of incredible lessons I learned through the process, the most influential of which was choosing my beliefs, specifically what I believed I was capable of creating and capable of becoming. I ate, slept and breathed “Annie” during the summer months of auditioning. I decided with every ounce of my being that I’d play the role and put everything I “had” into the production, I’d get on stage night after night without any nervousness and sing my heart out.
Somewhere in between my 11-year-old Annie and 34-year-old Amie, the limiting beliefs have infiltrated my thoughts; be they inspired via temporary defeats, losses, or societal influences…I recognize them. Once again I am faced with a pivotal moment in my life; and I choose to return to my pure childlike passion and faith in myself.
On the stage of life there are no dress rehearsals…it is happening now, fleeting moments, years, lifetimes. What do you choose for yourself? (Pause) Okay, then—decide it, and commit with all you got.
Tomorrow is a fresh new start, bet your bottom dollar. And the sun’ll come out tomorrow.
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