"You are destined for greatness."
Haven't we all wished for this? For a Jedi master or a gray wizard to come to our door and say that we are special; that our ordinary life is about to change. You are the chosen one. I'd like to be a chosen one. I'd like to be sitting on my porch, smoking a pipe (or reading a book more likely), and have a very tall man with a beard whisk me away on an adventure to slay the dragon and save Middle Earth. I want to be that kid in the middle of the desert who finds out his father was a Jedi, and that he too would be one of the greats. Thing is, they didn't have to do anything to become something. That's fiction. People aren't really chosen like we think, picked out of the human population as someone who will make a difference. 900 year old aliens with British accents and blue police box space ships don't take random girls' hands and tell them to run, to come away with them, "You and me, time and space. Where would you like to start?" No matter how much I dream and wish that it would happen, that I would be in the right place at the right time to have my whole world turned upside-down, to be someone special, someone who makes a difference, the odds are not exactly in my favor. Sure, there are people walking down the street that get noticed by a famous movie director and whisked away to a life of fame. But let's be honest here. Not to dash your hopes and dreams, but sometimes you have to be realistic. You can't spend your days waiting for your English professor to proclaim you a literary genius and splatter your work all over the famous author billboard. No, you can't sit at home, or lay in the grass in front of your college, imagining the day when it will be you. Your turn. It won't happen.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to dash all your hopes and dreams. In fact, I'm trying to help you achieve them. I broke open a fortune cookie after dinner a few nights ago. The 'fortune' was nothing less than a sign from heaven. One of those, "Oh look, I've been impaled," moments, to quote Frozen.
"Start that project which will make a difference. Remember oaks from acorns. Yes, you can!"
Yeah, it actually said that. Serves me right for wasting my break watching cat videos and browsing Facebook. I may not write the next best novel. I might not make the biggest scientific discovery of the century. I may not save the mistreated orphans in Bulgaria. I definitely won't be the next President. I may not ever do anything that's considered contributing to society. And maybe you won't either. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try. "Well what if I don't want to do anything good? What if I don't care to make a difference? What do you have to say to that?" Okay. That's fine. I'm not talking to you anyway. I'm talking to the person that wants to leave their mark on the world. The person that wants to change lives for the better. The person with the amazing idea that doesn't think they have what it takes. You know what?
Abraham Lincoln was a failure as a business man. He was defeated time after time to be in a place in the government. He even wrote in a letter to a friend, "I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth." But guess what. He didn't give up.
Winston Churchill was a failure in school.
Thomas Edison's teachers said he was "too stupid to learn anything."
Albert Einstein's teachers said he was "mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams." He was even kicked out of school.
There are many many more examples. Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Lance Armstrong, Walt Disney was even accused of not having enough imagination. What's your excuse?
You don't have to wait around for your big break. You don't have to let the things people say decide how you are going to live your life. It's your life, and if you want to change the world, then change it. One step at a time. And if you fail, well I have a message from Winston Churchill himself.
"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never, never, never, never give up."
Get up, little acorn. Get off the couch, or stay on it if sitting is involved. It's time. Time to make a difference. Time to be the oak tree you've always wanted to be. It's never too late. I believe in you. And you know what else? If you never achieve what you dreamt of, no one can ever say you didn't try. You won't live your life regretting the fact that you didn't try. And if you only ever touch one person in this life, make a difference in one small human soul, it's enough. I would even say it was a success. If I change one life for the better, I'll have left my mark, no matter how small. And if not the life of someone else, the journey you take, the fight you endure, will at least make you a better person. And that's worth more than all the cat videos in the world.
