Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, on 5th Dec. 1901. At four, he and his family relocated to a farm in Marcelline, Missouri, where his uncle had just bought a land. Walter grew up within this vicinity, and as a child, he loved drawing. His passion for drawing was ignited after he got paid to draw the horse of a well-respected doctor who lived within the neighbourhood. He sharpened his drawing skill by copying front-page cartoons and later learned how to beautify his drawings with crayons and watercolours.
In 1911 when Walter attended The Benton Grammar school in Kansas City, he, fortunately, met a fellow-student who had a passion for pictures and imagery just like himself. This friend of his was from a family of theatre fans, and in no time, he familiarized Walter with Vaudeville world and motion pictures. When Walter got admitted into high school, he was the cartoonist of the school newspaper, helping to create patriotic pictures of the First World War.
In 1919, he was recruited at a Commercial Art Studio as an apprentice, where he was engaged in drawing commercial illustrations for theatre programs and catalogues, and adverts.
A year after, Water and his older brother began their own cartoon business, which they called “Laugh-O-Gram Studios”. In less than a year into business, the company folded due to inadequate finance to operate the establishment. Immediately after this loss, Walter, with only $40, left for Los Angeles to venture into acting. However, acting didn’t work out. He was declined several times. Walter discovered that California didn’t have animation studios, so he encouraged his brother to join him to start up another cartoon business. Walter soon found a breakthrough after successfully creating “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit”. This cartoon character brought major success to Walter’s career, but things later turned unpleasant. Walter travelled for a while, and before he got back, his producer had overthrown him and taken control of his team of animators. Walter lost his legal right to “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit”.
He didn’t bother fighting back; he instead left to start all over again. Soon after his loss, he created another Cartoon, “Mickey Mouse”. Bringing Mickey Mouse alive to a large audience was a tough problem for Walter. For about 300 times, he was rejected by investors, until one who reluctantly said yes to Walter’s Mickey Mouse. Years after his Mickey Mouse animation became successful, Walter encountered problems with his partners and suddenly ran into serious debts.
During the Second World War, Walter’s animators went on strike, increasing his debts up to $4 million. In the midst of all these, however, Walter remained strong and refused to lose Strength and faith in himself. With much effort, he managed to rebuild his company and opened “Disneyland” in 1955. The launch of Disneyland was what eradicated his business problems and cleared his debts. Hundreds of people steadily bought tickets to visit Disneyland. He also came up with several other cartoons that were shown on TV. Walter finally came back stronger and better.
To this day, Walter Disney’s company (The Walt Disney Company) remains one of the world’s top animated movie producers. Disneyworld that was once mocked is now one of the most beautiful and fascinating places in the world today. Virtually everyone craves to visit Disneyland.
As someone who has an unbeatable will to be great in his/her endeavours, achieving success would be practically possible. This unbeatable will represents the inner Strength in you. The Strength that empowers you to get something done, even when it’s very difficult.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will”.
The Strength mentioned here is not physical ability. Instead, it is your unconquerable desire to achieve success. It’s only a strong man that can continue to try tirelessly and relentlessly till he gets what he wants.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Concentration is the secret of strength”. Your ability to keep chasing your dreams without losing focus or concentration clearly shows that you have Strength on the inside of you.
Oprah Winfrey said, “Where there is no struggle, there is no strength”. Your struggles help you to discover the capacity of your Strength.
If Walter Disney weren’t a strong man, he would have easily given up after encountering failures. But he had Strength on the inside, which enabled him to become great.
Don’t give up; you’re strong!
