By Peter Vuono
DON'T LOSE YOUR DINOSAUR
By Peter Vuono
On May 16th I took my 25 year old son to see, of all things, Godzilla. We didn't care in the least that movie reviews were not too favorable. We were just as excited to see this remake now as we were seeing the 1999 remake when my son was only 10. I'll never forget how excited he was when I immediately went out and bought him the lifelike doll. However, now, at age 61, I thought it odd that I still had this excitement.
I couldn't get enough of dinosaurs as a kid. Toys, games, play sets were my favorites as long as they were dinosaur related. I still have King Kong, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Planet of the Dinosaurs, One Million Years BC , Gorgo and the somewhat cheesy but endearing flick Dinosaurus. My favorite stories were without question Ray Bradbury's Fog Horn , Sound of Thunder and Other Than a Dinosaur, Whatta Ya Want to be When You Grow Up.
Similarly, Mike followed suit. He was just like me but I don't ever remember pushing this genre on him. He innocently fell into it just as I did. So here are two grown men, one a senior citizen who are driving down route 24 with great passion in our hearts for what we were about to see. I wondered if there something wrong with me and if I had erroneously imparted a fantasy onto my son that could be detrimental until I thought of a short YouTube clip that he showed me nearly a year ago.
Mike showed me a clip of a Will Ferrell/ John C. Reilly film entitled "Stepbrothers". I had never seen the film. However in a very poignant moment in the film, Richard Jenkins, who played the part of the father told Farrell and Reilly ,"Don't lose your dinosaur". He told them that as a child he wanted to be a dinosaur. When Jenkins' father heard of it he vilified and reviled his son. He told him to abandon childish thoughts and to get a job. Jenkins continued to tell his sons that he went on to get an education and a job but could never return to the mindset that once made him so happy.
Not losing your dinosaur simply means this: never lose your inner child. Children are more loving, less angry, more accepting and more generous than most adults. They don't start wars.In the New Testament, Jesus told his apostles" Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them. For unless you become like a little child, you will not enter the kingdom of God"
Not losing your dinosaur is a great way to walk on this path. For some it may be maintaining a love for dolls, or dresses or another childhood refuge.Remember Citizen Kane's Rosebud? However, it all means the same. To stay on this path is to stay on a road which will lead to both salvation and redemption.
ADDENDUM-
Some people will be dissatisfied that I didn't write about someone who was strong and brave so here goes; According to Dr. Jack Horner's book, The Complete T-Rex, the small and diminutive arms of Tyrannosaurus Rex were much stronger than one would think. The claws were turned up in a "curl" position and had bones in them as large as the largest bones of a race horse. Horner suggested that each arm could curl approx. 400lbs! Try this sometime in the gym on your bicep days. Of course it would help if you weighed between 7 and 8 tons.
On May 16th I took my 25 year old son to see, of all things, Godzilla. We didn't care in the least that movie reviews were not too favorable. We were just as excited to see this remake now as we were seeing the 1999 remake when my son was only 10. I'll never forget how excited he was when I immediately went out and bought him the lifelike doll. However, now, at age 61, I thought it odd that I still had this excitement.
I couldn't get enough of dinosaurs as a kid. Toys, games, play sets were my favorites as long as they were dinosaur related. I still have King Kong, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Planet of the Dinosaurs, One Million Years BC , Gorgo and the somewhat cheesy but endearing flick Dinosaurus. My favorite stories were without question Ray Bradbury's Fog Horn , Sound of Thunder and Other Than a Dinosaur, Whatta Ya Want to be When You Grow Up.
Similarly, Mike followed suit. He was just like me but I don't ever remember pushing this genre on him. He innocently fell into it just as I did. So here are two grown men, one a senior citizen who are driving down route 24 with great passion in our hearts for what we were about to see. I wondered if there something wrong with me and if I had erroneously imparted a fantasy onto my son that could be detrimental until I thought of a short YouTube clip that he showed me nearly a year ago.
Mike showed me a clip of a Will Ferrell/ John C. Reilly film entitled "Stepbrothers". I had never seen the film. However in a very poignant moment in the film, Richard Jenkins, who played the part of the father told Farrell and Reilly ,"Don't lose your dinosaur". He told them that as a child he wanted to be a dinosaur. When Jenkins' father heard of it he vilified and reviled his son. He told him to abandon childish thoughts and to get a job. Jenkins continued to tell his sons that he went on to get an education and a job but could never return to the mindset that once made him so happy.
Not losing your dinosaur simply means this: never lose your inner child. Children are more loving, less angry, more accepting and more generous than most adults. They don't start wars.In the New Testament, Jesus told his apostles" Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them. For unless you become like a little child, you will not enter the kingdom of God"
Not losing your dinosaur is a great way to walk on this path. For some it may be maintaining a love for dolls, or dresses or another childhood refuge.Remember Citizen Kane's Rosebud? However, it all means the same. To stay on this path is to stay on a road which will lead to both salvation and redemption.
ADDENDUM-
Some people will be dissatisfied that I didn't write about someone who was strong and brave so here goes; According to Dr. Jack Horner's book, The Complete T-Rex, the small and diminutive arms of Tyrannosaurus Rex were much stronger than one would think. The claws were turned up in a "curl" position and had bones in them as large as the largest bones of a race horse. Horner suggested that each arm could curl approx. 400lbs! Try this sometime in the gym on your bicep days. Of course it would help if you weighed between 7 and 8 tons.
