CLEOEJACKSONIII.COM
  • My Home Page
  • My Life and Ministry
  • My Ongoing Thoughts
  • My Favorite Bible Verses
  • My Favorite Stories
  • My Favorite Jokes
  • My Favorite Quotations
  • My Favorite Web Links
  • My Contact Info
"Helping Others Communicate"

MONKEY BUSINESS?!

2/4/2025

 
I remember it like it was yesterday.  The year was 1968.  My mother and two of my aunts took my sister and me, along with numerous cousins, to the Fox Theatre in downtown Atlanta that December in order to see a movie.  The film they chose was entirely appropriate for a group of seven, eight, and nine year olds.  It was titled “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.”

As I recall, in what amounted to an animated Shakespearian “comedy of errors”, the short film had to do with Pooh and company experiencing a windy day which was somehow interpreted as Wednesday.  It must have been good, as it won an Academy Award for the best animated short film of the year.

At the time, however, I paid little attention, either to the film or to its plot, as we sat through the flickering projection.  Why?  Because my mind was elsewhere.  And just where was that?  I’m glad you asked.
 
It was filled with thoughts swirling around all of the intriguing possibilities arising from my brief perusal of the abundance of movie posters filling the foyer while my mother purchased our tickets.  Those posters all lauded the recent release of “Planet of the Apes”. 

That film, too, would go on to be nominated for multiple Academy Awards, even winning one.  For my part, however, I would not be able to see the film for another few years, when it was finally broadcast on network television.
 
Fast forward some fifty-six years, and you come to today.  I am no longer a seven-year-old boy captivated by the notion of an entire planet run by monkeys who lord it over humans.  But oh, how my grandsons are!

Thus it was that, while local schools were recently closed for sickness, they all came over for a mid-winter “spend-the-night” party.  Rather than watch King Kong whip up on Godzilla for the umpteenth time, as they originally desired, I recommended that we all take a trip instead to the “Planet of the Apes”.  Suffice it to say that they were all enthralled from the very opening scene.

Soon enough, we had moved all the way through and beyond the “Planet of the Apes”, going “Beneath” it, “Escaping” it, “Conquesting” it, and eventually even “Battling” for it.  That’s right, over a twenty-four hour period, we pop-corned and Kool-aided our way through all five films of the original franchise!

My mother (God rest her soul!) may not have approved.  But all these years later, my wife and I did.  As did my children (themselves the parents of my grandsons).  Why?

Because you simply cannot change the nature of boys!  They are what they are!  They love all things monkey and any and every movie about monkeys!  Be it “King Kong”, “Son of Kong”, “Kong Versus Godzilla”, “Mighty Joe Young”, “Tarzan”, or more recently, “Rampage”, they are passionate about the subject matter.   And little wonder, for they are clearly made of different stuff than girls. 

As the English Romantic poet, Robert Southey, once put it…


What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Ships, snails
And puppy-dogs' tails
That's what little boys are made of!

What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice
And everything nice
That's what little girls are made of!


Now, I realize that we live in a day and age of gender confusion.  But as a believer, I choose to embrace the clear teaching of Holy Scripture that tells us (in the Old Testament book of Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27)… “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

That concept is firmly repeated (in the Old Testament Book of Genesis, chapter 5, verses 1-2):  “This is the written account of Adam’s family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them ‘Mankind’ when they were created.”

What is more, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Himself, underscored this when He said (in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, chapter 19, verse 4) “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female?”

Given all this, I am convinced that God intentionally gave my seven grandsons life.  He also made them boys with the intention that they would one day grow up and be strong, brave, and godly men.

Therefore, part of my God-given responsibility as their grandfather is to help each of them to become all that God intended them to be.  My role is to encourage, teach, and discipline them as they grow and develop.  It is also to protect them.


For the same Jesus quoted above also issued (in the New Testament Gospel of Mathew, chapter 18, verse 6, and Mark, chapter 9, verse 42) a woe unto anyone who caused any of His little ones to stumble!


In light of all this, I’m extremely thankful for every single one of my God-given seven grandsons.  And I plan to do my part to help them be all God intends.

Right now, that might involve watching movies about men and women being brave and overcoming marauding apes.  But as they grow and mature, it will likely involve far bigger, far greater, and far more significant lessons.  God willing, I plan to be right there in the mix, helping them become men!
​
And that, my friend, is anything but monkey business!

Meanwhile...  In one particular scene where Charlton Heston was struggling to overcome a powerful gorilla that was attempting to restrain him, one of my grandsons asked:  “Granddaddy, would you let a monkey do that to you?”  I replied: “Not at all!  I would make a monkey out of that ape!”  (Sorry, I couldn't help myself!)

SOURCES:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie_the_Pooh_and_the_Blustery_Day;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes_(1968_film);
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Are_Little_Boys_Made_Of%3F.

SCRIPTURE:

https://biblehub.com/genesis/1-27.htm;
https://biblehub.com/genesis/5-2.htm;
https://biblehub.com/matthew/19-4.htm;
https://biblehub.com/matthew/18-6.htm;
https://biblehub.com/mark/9-42.htm.

SEE ALSO:

https://www.foxtheatre.org/about.

Comments are closed.

    Cleo E. Jackson, III

    Occasionally I will add
    a few thoughts to my blog. If you find them inspirational, I will be
    honored.

    Archives

    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Categories

    All