I went to a Cirque du Soleil performance tonight with my daughter, and there was a juggler who performed. He was backed by xylophone-playing “crocodiles,” a tuba-playing wrestler, and a couple of your standard drummers – although we all know drummers are anything but standard, don’t we?

Anyway, the juggler started off with three pins, and was flinging those things around so effortlessly it barely looked like his hands were moving. The audience (us, his people) politely applauded. Someone tossed him another pin, and he kept the momentum going to the continued polite applause of the crowd. Eventually, a fifth pin fell from the rafters into his hand. And that’s when things started to get interesting.

He danced and slung those pins. We clapped. A sixth pin dropped from above. Again, he caught it and kept going, faster and faster. I mean? How many of these shiny silver things can this guy keep spinning?

Yet ANOTHER pin dropped down into his hand. This guy kept right on going. Seven pins, and he had not missed a beat. Smiling, juggling, applause. Smiling, juggling, applause. 

He tossed a pin high in the air while the other six magically spun in front of him. And when that seventh pin came back down to his hand, he dropped it.

He dropped it, and it spun right off the stage onto the ground.

And do you know what happened next? The crowd went fucking crazy applauding this guy, cheering him on, letting him know, “We are on your side juggler dude! You got this!” 

His people were with him. We had his back.

A guy in the first row handed him his pin. He bowed his thanks and took it with that smile still on his face. He didn’t miss another beat. The music continued, and with the crowd still going nuts, he tossed those seven pins right back up in the air and attempted his trick again.

It went off without a hitch. Juggler dude nailed it.

It’s pretty incredible what people can do when they know they’ve got their people on their side.