Rubbing Elbows With The Unchappy Class

I am writing these words in a crowded terminal in Dallas during a layover on my way to Las Vegas. Luckily so, too, since I barely sat down in time to snag the last available outlet to plug my laptop in to. My plane ride from Tampa to Dallas proved to be the inspiration for this post.

My flight took place on a full airplane without any open seats. My seat was in between two suits, two businessmen fully embodying their roles. One was studying a new business model for his company and later reading a book written (partially) by Tim Tebow about Tim Tebow. The other was shopping online for new business suits and reading celebrity tabloid gossip via his iPad. Both were married as evidenced by their shiny rings. Both were continuously making facial expressions and gestures and sounds suggesting their annoyance. One was annoyed that three grown men sitting an inch apart had to share armrests and our elbows occasionally touched. The other was just annoyed. I sat in between them, the polar opposition. Rather than a suit, I was wearing striped TOMS, a leather jacket, jeans with likely too many holes for their taste, a beanie knit in Uganda, a bracelet woven in Nicaragua, and a ring signifying nothing more than that it is made of twine and I like the way it looks. Rather than live vicariously through a book (partially) written by a millionaire or through candid photos taken of millionaires, I was writing songs and reading Alternative Press magazines cover-to-cover, taking mental notes on everything, ever hopeful that some day I might have a place or impact within the music industry, no matter how small. Additionally, rather than being on a business trip, I was on my way to Las Vegas for my annual mission trip with Current so I could help bring some Christmas love to those in need. If there was ever a physical embodiment of yin and yang, this was it.

Though they consisted of little more interaction than simple and socially obligated pleasantries, the few hours I spent with these men further cemented a view of life that I have always strongly held. I have said multiple times to multiple people that my biggest fear is waking up one day in my forties and realizing that I did not live the life I dreamed or do the things I wanted. That single thought is what motivates me each day. Now, all of this is not to say that I believe that I am better than the men I rubbed elbows with in any way. I will be the first one to tell you that I have flaws. I am riddled with them and I am on a constant journey to figure myself out (whether or not I acknowledge what I figure out is a different story). But, I do know what I want from life and I do know that I plan on getting it, or at least trying my hardest to. I refuse to let one of my flaws be letting what I want fall by the wayside. I could be mistaken but I have a feeling that those men did not fully do all of the things that they wanted to or planned on when they were younger. I feel that it is very likely that they are just some more victims of our society.

All too often I see people who let their ambitions slip away merely because they get caught up in the ways of everyday life in our society. Society tells us we have to make ends meet, we have to get an education, we have to get a good job, we have to make a lot of money. But who is to say that’s right? Who is a collective of others to tell you what is best for you as an individual? Maybe society says you should work your nine-to-five in order to maybe afford to pay a loan on a house when, in fact, what is best for you is to pack up and move to another country all together for a few years. Maybe you want to see the world. But, more often than not, making yourself happy requires some sort of decision or sacrifice, and that scares people. I was once a pre-med student with plans to become an anesthesiologist for two years before I realized I was not happy with my projected life plan and decided to study sociology, something I loved. Will I make six figures per year like I would have as a doctor? No, but at least I can wake up every morning knowing I love where my life is going and knowing in my heart I made the right decision for me. I can wake up and smile.

All in all, the point I am trying to make is that you need to be who you truly want to be. You need to take risks, you need to make decisions, and maybe you even need to make a mistake or two or a hundred. The last thing you want to happen is for your to realize later on in life that you experienced life as a spectator and did not actually live and embrace it. Find the passion that drives you and see it though to the end.

UPDATE: The connecting flight from Dallas to Las Vegas was much better. Far less people and an entire row and armrest to myself.

 

Hope

Hope is one of the single greatest, yet delicate and vulnerable things in our world. It can change the heart of a single person or change the views of the entire world. It can influence a childhood friend across a jungle gym or influence another nation across an ocean. It is powerful, life-changing and unquestionable, yet, still, it is fragile, defenseless, and dependent.

Hope lives in the child, unwavering because, as of yet, the child has not the life lessons to teach him that hope can be hard to see at times. The child holds steadfast to hope until the day when the foundation of their hope is shaken, changed. Now, hope has become less definite, less absolute. Now, the child knows hope can be had, but only if the foundation it is based on, the child’s belief, is sturdy. Hope can sometimes be strong, but it is always fragile.

Hope is much like the child, unable to protect itself in his young, early, formidable stages. Like the young child, hope cannot be its own protector at the beginning. It is not until it has grown and matured that it can ward off that which, or those who, endanger it. Once it has grown, many will hesitate to challenge it, but there still remain a few who will. Hope can sometimes be intimidating to those who challenge it, but it is always defenseless.

Hope is the child, unable to survive without the guidance, love and belief of its mother. We are hope’s mother. Hope is dependent on us. Hope cannot survive without us. Hope is a way of thinking, a way of living, a way of believing. Once we stop believing in hope, hope ceases to exist. Additionally, once hope is lost, so is the reason for belief. The hope of a person can influence the hope of another, creating a cycle. Yet, hope can only live as long as the last person who believes in it. Once the last of the believers dies, hope dies. Hope can sometimes be perpetual, but it is always dependent.

So, be always like the child and hold steadfast hope. Hope can be the strongest of things, but only as strong as you, the believer. It is your job to pass hope on to others. It is your job to keep hope alive.

 

It’s All Downhill From Here

So, this will be considered my first “official” post to this blog. I am cheating a bit because this is actually a note I wrote on my Facebook page a few months back. But, I am currently writing some new entries and working on getting them right, so I figured I would give you something to bring you to my page for the time being. Also, posting a serious entry to Facebook is about as absurd as Shakespeare writing a sonnet in crayon. That being said, click around the pages on this blog, follow me on Twitter, keep checking back here as I continue to update and enjoy the first post…

So it’s been just a month shy of a year since I’ve written a blog entry. Shame on me. The inspiration for this writing comes from a video I recently watched. It is the work of a 16 year old kid named Tommy Petroni called “Youth”. In the video, I feel the essence of youth is perfectly captured. A specific piece of imagery from the video really stuck me though.

I’m sure at some point, as kids, we all sat on skateboard on the top of a hilltop and rolled down to the bottom. The bigger the hill the better. The faster, the scarier, the more we knew we made the right decision when we pushed off and started rolling downhill. Never once did we stop to assess the situation. Never did we consider what would happen when we hit the bottom. Was there a patch of grass there to catch us for a soft landing? Was there a brick wall? We didn’t stop to think. It was just “1-2-3-Go”. It was all about the excitement and adrenaline of the ride.

I feel like this is something that rings true in life now that we’ve grown up and have been forced to deal with the ever-dreadful “real world”. What ever happened to just enjoying the ride? At what age did we get so hell-bent on having a set plan for our lives? When did we start being so concerned about what happens when we get to the bottom of the hill, which is probably a lot smaller now? The big hills aren’t safe, we want the certainty and comfort of the small ones. We want to know where we’re going. We leave no chance of us picking up too much speed and losing control and maybe veering left or right a bit. No, we want to stay on the straight path. But, do we really want to or were we told to? We’ve lost the childlike wonder and adventure. Where’s the fun in that? Whoever told us “look before you leap” was full of it and probably the most boring person to ever grace the face of the earth.

I think it’s time to take some advice from the young us of the past. We put so much emphasis on reaching a goal, getting that promotion, getting this degree, and so on. We need to learn to enjoy the ride again, and life is one hell of a ride. How about we just have fun on the way down? Maybe instead of staying straight, we lean a little bit to the right because we can. Sure we’re gaining speed and there’s a pothole over there, but let’s just see what happens. Or maybe, since we’re rolling down together, we can bump into each other here and there or maybe cross paths. Some paths we cross may take us somewhere even better than where we were heading, others may really screw us up and we’ll have to start all over. Maybe we’ll scrape our knee, but it happens and we’ll get back on the board and keep on rolling because we have to. Call it adrenaline, call it peer pressure from our friends at the top of the hill, call it society telling us we need to conform to a certain set of norms and accomplishments, call it whatever, but for some reason we have to back up on the board. If we learn to roll with it, so to say, we can end up places we never though we could be. It’s time to tap into our inner youth and just see where our hills take us. After all, it’s all downhill from here.

“Hitting bottom isn’t a weekend retreat. It’s not a goddamn seminar. Stop trying to control everything and just let go!” – Tyler Durden, Fight Club

“Youth” by Tommy Petroni