The Boys Who Outrun Time

This is an ad you’ll be hearing soon for the world’s fastest-growing franchise for in-home elder care:

When Peter Pan first appeared in 1904, children didn’t understand the significance of the crocodile that swallowed an alarm clock. But as those children grew older, they realized that time is the ticking crocodile that chases us all. Time… we just can’t outrun it. I’m Cathy Thorpe, president of Nurse Next Door. Let us help you fight the crocodile. You can live in your OWN home and get all the help you need. It’s what we do… (two second pause) because we care. Nurse Next Door dotcom.”

“Young boys should never be sent to bed. They always wake up a day older. And then before you know it, they’re grown.”

– Johnny Depp playing J.M. Barrie in a movie called Finding Neverland.

Have you accomplished things that other people said you could never do?

Welcome to Neverland. You’re obviously one of the Lost Boys.

The Lost Boys are risk-takers who rise above their circumstances, constantly dodging the Crocodile of Time, narrowly escaping the Bear Trap of Tradition, zigzagging away from competitors and fools, always happy, always helping, forever embracing that moment called Now.

It is a marvelous tribe. When they get together and tell stories it’s like summer camp for grown ups. So they should have a tree house, right?

On the first page of today’s rabbit hole, Indiana Beagle is showing off Marley Porter’s architectural rendering of The House of the Lost Boys – soon to be Wizard Academy’s third student mansion – three interconnected towers facing Chapel Dulcinea from directly across the valley of Engelbrecht. Each of those towers will have two rooms, raising our total number of on-campus rooms to twenty-four.

One of the reasons they’re called the Lost Boys is because they’re invisible; you can’t find them.

The House of the Lost Boys is being funded by a secret society of men and women who are donating $15,000 each toward the cost of construction. In return, they will attend a special 2-day event on the campus of Wizard Academy each year for the next five years (2015 – 2019) where they will enjoy the edgiest teaching, the most futuristic thinking and the liveliest discussions of the year.

The names of the Lost Boys will never be listed. The Lost Boys themselves will be the only people who know the identities of the other members of the tribe. A Lost Boy is free to tell you they’re a member, but they’re forbidden to name anyone else in the group. Cool, huh?

The seven Lost Boys who have already stepped forward are an amazingly magnetic group. If I published their names and accomplishments, we’d attract a big crowd of outsiders anxious to donate 15k apiece just to get next to these men and women for a couple of days each year. But we’re not going to let that happen.

One of the most deeply embedded traditions of Wizard Academy is that no one tries to do business while they’re here. We’re not a networking organization. We’re a school, a retreat, an island of restoration and stimulation and recovery where interesting and excited people prepare for the next stage of their journey.

Yes, we’re a little bit ridiculous.

Okay, maybe more than a little bit. But that’s what keeps us safe from people whose minds are narrow and closed.

Can I tell you my biggest fear? I worry that someday the wrong people will gain control of our school and rename it the American Small Business Academy. After all, we already own AmericanSmallBusiness.com, .net and .org and a simple name change would instantly escalate the revenues and authority of this place to a dramatically higher level.

But then the magic would be gone, the laughter would stop, and music would no longer fill the air.

Thank you for being a little bit ridiculous with me. It makes me feel good to know you’re there.

Roy H. Williams