Touching the Stars
What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
Some of the most fascinating tales I’ve read are about famous people who fulfilled dreams they had for their lives with just faith and courage to help them. My nightstand is always heaped high with autobiographies, those peeping Tom odysseys. From the frivolous written by movie stars’ hired hands to serious words generously shared by figures who loom large in history to the authors of the Bible, heroic efforts enthrall me. The American can-do attitude in me says, ‘if they can do it, so can I.”
I love the story of how the young Steven Spielberg would stroll, dressed in a suit and tie and carrying his father’s briefcase filled with a sandwich and candy bars past movie studio guards. How he found an empty office and how he put up a sign with ‘his” room number on it. All so he could learn about film directing from one of the best. His past experience was limited to making little 8 mm films of reconstructed play train wrecks while still in school.
Bill Gates’ story is well known. He quit school to try out an idea he and a friend had of creating software for personal computers. He is now one of the most successful and wealthiest men in America, if not on the planet. What is even more wonderful than his personal success is how he and his wife are now using their fortune to help others far less fortunate than they.
Not all dreamers hit first base on their first try. Some try one idea; it falls into pieces. They pick out one of the pieces and develop that one until it is a new concept or a larger one or a smaller one. Whatever has happened, they soldier on. During the Depression, many small businesses got started by folks who were determined to survive the times. My grandfather always said, “Aim for the moon. If you don’t make it to the moon, you’ll at least make it to a star. That’s better than having your feet stuck in the mud.”
Meditation for the Day
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know how to. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” William Faulkner, author
Action for the Day
Today, I’ll remind myself that goals are dreams with a to-do list. What is my most important and persistent dream? How can I get from here to there?
[ ]
Comments
Leave a Reply
