This weekend in the United States we will be celebrating Memorial Day. Memorial Day was established in the 1860s to annually recall and celebrate all American soldiers that have given their lives in service to our country.
In honor of this national holiday, I would like to share a short story:
There once was a boy who, at age 12, fell in love with performing magic. He purchased a magician’s kit through the mail and even began performing magic tricks in public under the name “The Great Carsoni.”
Years passed and he was attending high school. The day started like any other day. He woke up, got dressed, and headed to school. He was a year and a half away from graduating. The day was December 7, 1941, and the United States was under attack. Around noon the next day, President Roosevelt addressed Congress:
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
That day altered the lives of many, including young “Carsoni.” He finished high school and immediately joined the Navy as an ensign, working as a communications officer and decoding encrypted messages.
Throughout the war Carson sought refuge in his childhood hobby of magic, and found joy in performing magic tricks for his fellow shipmates. The magic provided a welcome distraction and relief for men whose lives had been dramatically changed by the mayhem of war. Magic was fun, engaging, and exciting, and Carson had a gift for entertaining. One of his fondest memories was performing magic for James Forrestal, the U.S. Secretary of the Navy.
Carson never let go of his passion, pursuing it even in the midst of great difficulty and sorrow brought by war. While Carson himself did not lose his life in service to the US, he served alongside many who did. He leveraged his strengths and used his gifting to help his fellow naval brothers cope with the chaos in which they all found themselves.
After the war, years after “the Great Carsoni” first began performing magic, he became an entertainment legend: the one and only Johnny Carson. Carson chose to follow his passion no matter his circumstances, and ultimately his tenacity led him to one of the greatest entertainment careers of all time.
What is your passion? Are you pursuing it no matter your circumstances? Find your passion, and find a way to pursue it no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Like Johnny Carson, you can create magic even in the midst of mayhem.
