Life According To Phineas and Ferb

I've been giving a lot of thought to Phineas and Ferb, which has followed several years of giving a lot of thought to Dora the Explorer, which followed a good many years of giving a lot of thought to Thomas the Tank Engine, which itself followed some strong attention to the many facets of The Wiggles.  I'm hopeful of making it to some solid middle school material someday soon.

Phineas and Ferb are step-brothers in the midst of an endless summer vacation.  Each day they hatch a fantastic plan, often building a never-before-built gizmo, in order to have something fun to do that day.  The gizmo is always destroyed before the afternoon is over, which doesn't bother them.  Among other nemeses is Phineas' sister, Candace, who is bothered at their cheerful, unconcerned attitude towards these complex plots and who--fruitlessly--is eager for their mom to "bust" them. 

Phineas and Ferb are an encouragement to me to try fun things with little concern for whether they'll "work."  They think of something, and it's done.  And when, in the end, it's vaporized, they're eagerly onto the next fun thing to try.  Candace, the show's hapless superego, is always miserable.  They're always happy.

I find myself thinking of the surprising story of Stieg Larsson, the author of the massive hit novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its two sequels.  (He was the second-most-bestselling author in the world last year, following Khaled Hosseini.)  He was a crusading Swedish journalist who exposed far right hate groups (he was under constant death threats) who wrote this trilogy, we're told, for his own amusement to blow off steam after the intensity of his days.  He then died, at 50, of a massive heart attack.  Foul play was immediately suspected, but moved on from as an explanation.  His manuscripts were then published and became a worldwide sensation.  (Evidently there's a massive fight over his will.  His live-in girlfriend had never married him, because, we're told, Swedish law would have required them to publish their address, which would have put their lives in danger.  But now she's shut out of his will--and his books have sold 27 million copies and counting.)

All to say, here's this stressed-out journalist who writes a trilogy in his off-hours, for fun. 

Our old friend GK Chesterton said he wrote for the fun of it.  

Most things that make a lasting difference require sticking to something beyond the "for the fun of it" original motivation.  They require Eugene Peterson's "long obedience in the same direction."  But I remain inspired by Stieg Larsson and Phineas and Ferb and I have dreams of avoiding my inner Candace, which would shout at me that that fun idea is somehow an outrage and to be avoided.

Do you have stories of how your one-time fun idea became very much actualized?  Or was at least a fun experience along the way where, in theory, you connected with God?  What have you learned about God as you've moved out on those fun ideas?  Have these endeavors formed into a philosophy of life in any way for you?

Comments

[Holly]

This is a big and current issue for me. I managed to burn out in my first career (originally chosen, 18 years earlier, because I found it fun), and since then have been struggling to find that elusive dimension between trying to put the appropriate work into my new dreams on one hand, and trying to have fun with the process on the other. I'm still learning. One thing that's made it difficult is that whenever I find something fun to do, all my hopes kick in and I want it to turn into "something big." I want to meet expectations, and I don't want to miss my big opportunity. Then I feel all pressured, and the fun isn't fun; it's turned into ambition, and that doesn't seem to be a state that works for me.

I'm encouraged by your stance in this post, because recently I've felt like I haven't done enough writing for a creative group I'm a part of, and I've been trying to figure if I'm fighting the right battle: Do I fight what appears to be laziness, fear, and procrastination? Or do I let myself relax, break some rules, and enjoy the process, even if it means that I end up disappointing some people and don't end up being the "star?" The answer seems obvious as I read all I've just typed, but it's a harder choice than I'm making it sound because I really want to be recognized for my talent, and I really, really hate disappointing people!

Ultimately, I've come to believe that I need to learn to enjoy myself more than anything, or I won't be able to enjoy ANY future success that may come my way. It just feels like a huge risk to step back from all the effort and hard work, because they appear so virtuous and appropriate.

I'm my own Candace, and it ain't fun.
But "Enjoy!" is easier said than done.
(Ha! Did I mention I'm a poet?)

[Evan Nehring]

Nice thoughts Holly. For me, this all has a bit of a Tevye and Fiddler on the Roof feel to it. His dreams for his family and for his daughters bring more and more tension, yet the fiddler always returns. Seems to represent the natural joy and goodness of just being alive.

Some days I'm great at finding the joy regardless of the results. Others are tougher. The "life is good regardless of my position on the success ladder" philosophy is a big part of my life these days.

I'm a two-time valedictorian who tells doctors what button to click on their computer monitor. But mostly I feel thankful for a job and honored to be called to assist as they guide people to health. Ultimately God calls, I say yes, the results are his.

[Jeff]

Awesome. Now do it for Dora.

[Paul]

Yeah, I can relate to Holly's story. I have been able to walk with way more joy in recent years, but this season I sense more tension between joy in what I'm doing and burden in seeing a particular outcome. I feel squeezed (Mt 7:14) and yet hopeful as God reveals more crap in me ... and opportunity for more freedom.

It all feels purposeful ... and the good news is I feel ok with sitting in that tension (guess I'm retaining stuff out of those Vineyard sermons and healing programs, heh!)

[Brent]

Fineas and Ferb....just another in a long line of shows that reinforce the negative stereotype of the professor-as-mad-scientist. It prompted my son to ask me why professors always want to take over the world....

So, I declare that I will destroy all things Fineas and Ferb, including this post! It will be easy with my newly-created debloginator! And for extra protection while my plan is carried out, I have my trusty platypus-repellinator!

[steven hamilton]

Ah, Brent...what an unexpected surprise. And by unexpected, I mean completely expected!

[Dave Schmelzer]

Steve, Brent is referencing the show... and very wittily so. Good one, Brent!

[Trish Ryan]

Every summer needs a theme song, and I'm adopting this as mine for 2010!
Love the idea of just trying stuff to see what happens, and what God will do.
Off to find something that doesn't exist...

[Brent]

You have to imagine the Doofenshmirtz accent :)

I do appreciate the thoughts in the post, though. Often it seems to me that I have very little fun. I love my job and it is challenging. But fun? That seems a stretch. When I think of fun as 'the thing I'd most like to be doing,' I don't really think of my work in that category (though I do put it in the category of 'things most worth doing'). Wish I could fit the two together a bit better.

I guess I do have one story. In Tanzania I and some friend decided on a whim to take a 3-day weekend and try to reach a place that our guidebook said could only be reached by plane. After taking two buses, bribing a train conductor, walking 35km, hiring villagers to ride us on their bicycles, and trekking through a game park at dusk while hearing lion roars, we made it. In the process, I also made good friends, had the best meal I've ever tasted, and learned the limits of my physical body (took me a week to recover from severe dehydration afterwards). That was 11 years ago, though. Now my life is mostly predictable :)

[steven hamilton]

forgot to include my quotations marks as i was doofenshmirtz-ing brent's doofenshmirtz...

[Geoff]

In 2008 my son, Nathan, and I created an animated short out of a story he had written for school. He was 7 years-old and attending the International School of Bologna at the time. The project, for us, definitely fit under the category of something fun to try that we had no clue how to do. But we gave it a whirl and this is what we came up with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boMnBLXKUZQ
(may need to copy and paste into address bar)

We mentioned the project to his teacher and he asked us to show it to the class. They watched it twice. Some other teachers saw it and invited Nathan to present it at an all-school assembly. So here's my seven-year-old son with a microphone in front of a school with kids from, literally, everywhere describing how we did this project and answering their questions.

We'll never forget that experience and there are talks of a sequel.

[Dave Schmelzer]

Ah. I missed YOUR reference. My bad.