When I wake up in the morning, before my feet hit the floor I am strategizing. I begin each day with considerations, concerns, and contingencies. Before I’ve brushed my teeth, taken a shower, and had my breakfast I have spent incredible amounts of energy trying to plan for, and avoid, anything that could go wrong. It is exhausting.
In the morning before my eyes have fully opened I have already started running. I’ll run from sadness, pain, disappointment, and discomfort. The intention, is that if I can avoid those things, then I will experience joy, laughter, excitement, and fulfillment. That’s not how it works. Progress is the only treatment for entropy. It is only when we stop looking behind us and start looking in front of us that we will ever get to where we are going.
Someone told me one time, “you know Caleb, there are people that get out of bed every day, get ready, and go about their business, without trying to control any of it?” I didn't understand how that was possible before, but tonight I watched Disney’s “Tomorrowland” and while I’m not sure the film itself is transformative, I certainly believe its message is. The movie is, in short, a story of what is and what could be. The core of what I came to understand the film to say was this; “Running from something will never get you anywhere, running to something will get you everywhere.
Running from something will never get you anywhere, running to something will get you everywhere.
The challenge with this idea, is that while hindsight might be 20/20, it is arguably the most common activity within the human experience. If we accept that there is not point, then what is the point? Entropy is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we limit ourselves to what we can see with perfect vision, then we will only see what has been, or what can go wrong. Then the things that we are focused on will become our reality, we will bring about our own death by accepting it's inevitability. However if we look at what can be, then we can move forward towards hope and what can be. What is more, if we broaden our perspective, then not only will we see what can be for ourselves, but also for the people around us.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said this; “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
The world needs dreamers, and dreamers need each other.
The world needs dreamers and dreamers need each other. The world needs people who are willing to rise above the confines of their today, and even their tomorrow. When you survey the state of affairs that we live in, you have a choice. On one hand, you can see death and destruction, on the other, you can see promise and possibility. The choice is not about focusing on one, and avoiding the other; ignorance only breeds foolishness. The choice is about seeing what is, and deciding how to respond.
I spent so much time each morning trying to control and plan because I was convinced that my failure was inevitable, and so I needed to minimize my pain any way I could. I was wrong. Inevitability is the birthplace of desolation, but it is an easy place to be, because what is inevitable only exists tomorrow, it doesn’t ask anything of you today.
If you survey the world, you will see death, but you will also see hope. That is the choice I am going to make, to see both and to do whatever I can, however I can. I’ve realized I’m tired of waiting for someone else to do it for me. I will leave you with this quote from the film...
“Have you ever wondered what would happen if that smartest, most creative people in the world actually decided to change it?”
*NOTE: While I would love to take credit for all of these thoughts and ideas on my own, I can't. I have wonderful people around me that are much smarter than I am. While the impact, and realizations are my own, it wouldn't be without their help, love, support, and brilliant ideas that I would have ever come to any conclusions. They know who they are, and I cannot repay or thank them enough for their support. Seriously, they are some of the best people anyone could ever know.
*NOTE: Pairing the MLK Jr. Quote with the concepts in Tomorrowland wasn't my idea either, again I'm surrounded by people that are brilliant.