Make My Day!

Go Ahead, Make My Day!

Hotel in Spain.

Hallway.

February 16, 2001.

10:00 a.m.

I'm walking along with a deck of cards in one hand and a Spanish phrasebook in the other when, turning the corner, I run smack dab into a cleaning cart surrounded by three maids taking a break. Upon impact the cards go flying, but I'm able to hold onto the phrasebook and immediately scramble through it for the apologies section. The maids have a friendly laugh at my discomfort. One of them helpfully picks up the cards and, attempting her best English, asks me, ”Chew are matchic?” I inform her that I am, in fact, a magician, and in my best Spanish I ask her to “please shuffle the jellied school bus”. Despite my misuse of her native language, she gets the idea and shuffles the deck. Fanning the cards in front of her face I point to my eyes and then to the cards, gesturing for her to think of one. After a few seconds, she nods, and I square up the pack. To make a long story short, I show her the wrong card and place it in her hand -- whereupon it changes to the right one, the one she merely thought of. She immediately throws the card in the air and starts screaming and laughing. To top off this great reaction I've gotten, she tells me that she's actually glad she came to work that day. This was the most fun, she told me, that she'd had in weeks!

I know these seemingly on-the-spot miracles have produced powerful reactions for all of us a gazillion times before, but this particular instance got me thinking about how lucky I was to have magic in my life; how lucky I was to be able to influence someone's day in such a powerful way and with so little effort. I walked away from these ladies feeling as though I too had benefited from the experience. How could I have not? Essentially, someone had just told me that spending 5 minutes with me was the most fun they'd had in a month. Of course, if I really believed her, I'd be a very hard person to be around, but I do know that, for 5 minutes, it was pretty important to her. I'd made a strong and positive impression.

Many magicians take their magic for granted. They just go through the motions. Don't feel bad, it's easy to do. I mean, how could you possibly do a trick for the 800th time but still make it seem fresh and new? I'll tell you how. Just think back to the first time you were fooled badly with a magic trick. You know the time, when your stomach felt like it had dropped to your ankles. Well, that's the same feeling most laymen experience almost every time you perform something for them!

I think of magic as a gift. A gift I can give anytime, anywhere, any place, to anyone…and you can too. So, the next time someone turns to you and says something that means the same as "Chew are matchic?", drop whatever you're doing, use that gift you've worked so hard to attain, and make their day. Who knows? It might just make yours too.

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