Anything is Possible

When I was a teenager I had the firm belief that anything is possible. I can be and do anything in the world. If I decided to do it, I could be the best magician ever, or I could be an astronaut, or fly a plane, or be a priest. All ideas I had, so far I’m batting a big 0 average on each, oh well, at least I’m young and have time.

As I’ve gotten older I still think this is true. But I also understand why it is that most adults don’t think that it is possible to be or do anything. We all have gifts given to us by God, and there is the idea that since I’m crummy at detail planning I will never be the key planner of all activities for an organization. I definitely disagree with this. If I had the drive and interest to be a great planner, I could do it… Given enough time.

This knowledge of everything being possible s always flowing deep down inside, but doesn’t surface as often as it should.

Then I go and read Jessica’s blog about her piano skills. I was struck by how hard she works to play piano. After so many people say that their profession just “comes naturally” to them, Jessica kind of got me back to thinking about the possibility of doing anything.

Piano obviously didn’t come easily to her. She has all kinds of tricks including ones with big words like stalactite, stromboli, streptococcus (strep throat… and you thought I was uneducated) or something with an st in the beginning. Heck, in college she even lost the love of playing the piano.

Again though, she has the drive to be great with music. After giving up piano for a bit, she kept getting pulled back. She’s also never lost her interest and commitment to music. Now she’s going back to college to do stuff which I do understand, like “Knowledge Management” and “Information Access”.

All I’m getting at is, no matter how bad we think we are at something, perseverance can make it work. It may take years and years to get good at it. Heck, there will also always be someone who’s better at it than you are (a hard lesson I’m still learning). It also may not be easy. But with real dedication and love of what you’re doing, you can make it happen. You really can be anything you want to be.

So, I’d just ask that you evaluate you life for a second (hah, is a second enough time) and think about what it is you’ve always wanted to do. We don’t have all the time in the world, but why not try to make it a reality? At the very worst you’ll have tried and figured out what you do and don’t like about it.

I’m thinking I always wished I could be a serial killer… Maybe I’ll give that a try. I’d better get good quickly though, since I think if you do a bad job the first time you don’t get a whole lot more chances… Plus I’d need a victim… any nominations?

Thinking about it, maybe there’s just too much risk in serial killing. I guess I’ll just stick with pursuing my dreams of priesthood. It’s been 15 years so far, but now it’s time to commit.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

posted by Tom at 3:11 PM