Magical Kingdom: The Final Episode

Do we care enough to leave our children a livable world?

After 75 years of flush ticket sales, Bambi has had a good run in the forest.

Cinderella and Mickey are living comfortably off their golf courses and holiday rentals.

Jiminy Cricket and Donald Duck are in the gravy, thanks to strategic product placement and embedded marketing.

The Little Mermaid (who is not so little anymore) is also doing quite well, managing her restaurants and cosmetic chains.

All of the Magical Creatures have invested heavily in industries that replaced forest with barren land. Mountains have been stripped of their treasures and the sea is dying. What remains is a wasteland inhabited by hungry tenants.

And it its center is that tiny splotch of paradise called the Magical Kingdom.

From time to time, heralds bring gloomy news to the inhabitants of the Magical Kingdom.

“Your lifestyle is unsustainable,” they say. “Our children will be left with nothing. You have to stop wrecking the world.”

“All that whining gives me a headache,” says Tinker Bell.

“It’s sheer speculation,” says Goofy. “No solid proof.”

“Off with their heads,” says Cruella de Vil.

The Magical Kingdom creatures are gathered in the opulent castle for a light before-dinner buffet.

“We’re not wrecking the world,” says Moana, taking a chocolate croissant from the sideboard.

“We’re making good use of it,” says Simba, filling a silver platter with meat.

“Maximizing the profits,” says Pocahontas, packing pemmican into her pouch.

“This magical wonderland has more than enough resources for all of us,” says Alice.

“At least until we die,” says Belle.

“Then it won’t matter,” says the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

“It won’t be our problem anymore,” says Mulan.

“We’ll be living in a better fantasy,” says Peter Pan.

“Isn’t there at least something good we can leave the next generation?” asks Bambi.

“I’ve got it,” says Aladdin with a bright smile, his index finger pointed toward the gilding ceiling. “I’ll leave them my magic lamp!”

“Ho, ho, ho!” says Captain Hook with a deep belly-laugh. “They’ll definitely need a little hocus-pocus to fix all the mess we’ve made. Ho, ho, ho!”

Image: Jo Zimny, Flickr.

Tell me then, how is it that you are rich? From whom did you receive it, and from whom he who transmitted it to you? From his father and his grandfather. But can you, ascending through many generations, show the acquisition just? It cannot be. The root and origin of it [your riches] must have been injustice. Why? Because God in the beginning did not make one person rich and another poor … but he left the earth free to all alike. Why then if it is common, have you so many acres of land, while your neighbor has not a portion of it? — John Chrysostom, fourth-century preacher and bishop of Constantinople[1]

[1] John Chrysostom, from The Homilies of Chrysostom on Timothy, Titus and Philemon, published in the Oxford Movement Library of the Fathers series, Homily 12 on 1 Timothy, p. 100, 1843.