My friend had this to say in return:
If everyone with issues settled for a less ambitious life, we'd have no electricity, no cars, women wouldn't learn past third grade, and NO ART would exist.
That beat of the different drummer is the beat of tomorrow. If those who hear it are beaten into believing that the drumbeat is dangerous, we as a culture have no future.
... You know what it's like to fail, you know what it's like to not work with your gifts. You know that the second option is worse. You feel it.
I was just thinking on my way to work that I am starting to understand what I have gained by continuing to work in this toxic environment. Every day I've been demeaned. I've been sterilized hourly. Every day I have watched my work be erased. My most precious products have been decreed dangerous to society. So every hour I have had to use my core to remind myself that I have worth, intelligence, and that my version of history is valid. I see now that a habit has formed. I live from my core now, I can't help but believe in myself because I am all that I've had for months. What an amazing habit to gain. (This is not to degrade the importance of you and my other friends. I'm talking about the moments when I needed to walk the path myself.)
It's your path. Choose your companions carefully. "To thine own self be true" isn't just advice. It's a warning that any other decision will erase you.
I just had to share that. I'm still savoring the feel of it.
Good thoughts.
So, yes, I'm sure some folks along the way who have encouraged me to be very, very careful have been trying to protect me from failure, but personally I'd rather give it my all and give my life a good shot, than play it safe and miss out. It's just hard to know how to balance their best of intentions with the Life that has a way of pushing its way to the top with me... and somehow manages to make them Very, Very Nervous.
Well, it's all a grand adventure anyway, so why not live it like one?
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