The Juggler, the Clown and the Magician

One balmy summer night after finishing their acts and after the crowds had winnowed away; a juggler, a clown and a magician were relaxing outside the big circus tent. For a while they just sat there, not saying a word looking at the stars and the crescent moon not halfway up the sky. Each lost in his own thoughts pondering what to add to their craft, for each was renowned in their separate domains.

The juggler could toss more balls at one time than any other juggler of his day, and the clown made people chuckle and double-over with laughter almost at will, and the magician would leave his audiences amazed and dazzled by his wondrous tricks. And being the best was important to each of them as they had studied, trained and perfected their routines so that not only the audiences would admire their skills but that their peers and fellow entertainers looked at them with respect and admiration.

So it was not really surprising when during this time of reflection the juggler noted that there must be a particular ability that each possessed that endowed them with the ability to be the preeminent member of their craft. “What do you suppose is special about each of us so I am the greatest juggler, you are the funniest clown, and you are the most amazing magician?”

“We all work hard every day honing our skills, we watch our competitors and learn from their successes and failures, and we invest prudently in our costumes and apparatus to create the atmosphere desired and expected by our audiences. But so does our competition and yet we are the top of our fields, what more is there?”

No one answered directly; each sat back a little more in their chairs and shifted their heads and gaze up a little into thought and contemplation. A minute or two passed and then the clown responded. “I believe we are each blessed. We have the unique talents required to excel in our fields and no others are as blessed. I am blessed with the ability to know what makes people laugh. We are clearly special individuals and are destined to be the best.”

The juggler nodded in agreement adding “And we each have focused on our abilities and talents. We see what is important and concentrate our attention to those things that are the most valuable, exciting and new. We stay out-front and do not lose sight of the next opportunity to advance our skills. We do not rest on our laurels.”

Nodding in agreement with each other the juggler and the clown turned to the magician and asked, “Don’t you agree?”

The magician looked from one to the other and said, “Well to be honest, I don’t know; but my talent has taught me that my success come in part or perhaps totally from the art of deception.  So I try diligently to avoid falling into the trap of deceiving myself or being deceived by others.  We are all the best, at least today. We each strive and endeavor each and every day to remain the best, and put both effort and funds into our respective businesses.”

“But in the end it may all be much more simple and basic than our destinies. It may all just come down to timing. As a juggler you must time each ball, each hand movement and every trajectory to a sufficient precision to allow the process to continue its smooth operation. Miss a beat and the pattern dissolves into chaos and balls spinning out of control.

Your clowning is no less a matter of timing. Fall to early or to late, glance or gesture in the wrong direction or with the wrong speed and the silliness and humor evaporate. Pause to long in your story or rush to swiftly thorough the joke and where before there was mirth there is now just silence. The timing of your performance is no less important than the content, yet it may be the only difference between what you do and what another doesn’t.

In my own craft, timing is essential. The suddenness of the reveal, the quickness of a movement and the simultaneousness of two actions can all make the magic and illusion work. It’s the perfection of the timing that imbues the mystery to the act.

In all our endeavors and performances, if we don’t execute it with the correct timing then it all falls apart. Our knowledge, our proficiency and our desires are important to our stature but if we don’t understand that the simple act of performing what is required at the right time is essential to our success then we may be surprised when the tricks don’t work as expected.

Do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done; this is perhaps the key to our success.  It’s all in the timing.”