I think it’s really fantastic when someone loves something as a kid and then, as an adult, gets an opportunity to meaningfully interact with it in some way.
I recently saw the band Kansas perform live. This band has been around for more than 50 years, so as you’d imagine, the lineup has changed many times. At least one of their members was a fan of the band as a child, and being able to grow up and join that band has got to be incredible.
Taylor Swift got to do a song in Toy Story 5. When she performed live with Randy Newman, she brought her VHS copy of Toy Story (1) that she’d watched many times as a child and had Newman sign it.
When I was a kid, I played a ton of a unique role-playing game and more than 20 years later, I’m a published author for that game.
These kinds of things are not only great to see from the personal level, but they’re amazing to see writ large on society. The passing of torches and the evolution of culture, the way we can care about things together even across generational divides, all this is wonderful.
Look back on your youth. What did you care about then? What was special to you? Could you experience it again in a new way, today? I’ll bet you could – come full circle.
The Opportunity Machine 