With Faith The Size of a Peanut

Eight years ago I moved to a small city in southwestern Ontario that is known for two things, one was trains and the second one was that the worlds most famous elephant Jumbo, thanks to P.T. Barnum, was killed by one of those trains. Right now as I write this tracks are being pulled up from the ground and Jumbo is still dead, what remains is a legacy that one elephant left.

Jumbo wasn't really that special, what was special was that he had a great backer, P.T. knew how to hype, so much so that a simple African elephant (that was of an average size) was billed as the worlds largest elephant and the world went along. Jumbo the Swahili word for hiya is now associated with all things big, hotdogs, slushies, Jumbo trons. Its no surprise that Jumbo would catch the attention of the Disney studios.

Living here in St Thomas I have heard many a people make corrections about the name of Jumbo, and I quote “It's not Dumbo, it's Jumbo!” Yes, most people refer to P.T.'s elephant as the famous Dumbo but what people forget is that Dumbo is not the real name of the Disney elephant, his official name is Jumbo Jr.

Getting back to P.T. Barnum and his amazingly average elephant, the real magic behind both elephants is the unrelenting faith that someone had in them. P.T. Barnum knew how to invoke faith in crowds so much so that people looking at this average elephant believed that it was special, despite evidence to the contrary, even today people still believe that Jumbo was the world's largest elephant. The man was on to something.

125 years after Jumbo died people are still believing the hype that P.T. spewed about this elephant (and many other things) Advertisers still use the tactics that were implemented by this crafty man. I can't help but wonder what would happen if someone like P.T. took on a cause like the betterment of humanity, imagine what it would be like if he had started promoting the wonders of humanity, our limitless potential.

Imagine where we would be if we believed that we were the most spectacular beings on earth. Capable of solving world hunger! Powerful enough to bring about world peace! The most loving race on earth! The funny thing is that all those things are true about who we really are. In the end we are all little elephants waiting to be reminded that we are capable of greatness.