WARNING: This video clip is from Good Will Hunting and may contain language you do not want to hear. If you do not, please do NOT push play.....
I am not as smart as many people I know, although I do ok I guess. I don't spend hours thinking of some arcane facts so that my thoughts seem learned or pointed. Like Matt in the video, I am more of a guy who takes life serious, but knows that details are just a necessity - not a bragging point. So many people I know have this wonderful concept of how life should be --- full of religious conviction (their way of course) , personal responsibility (for everyone else of course) and ready for the rest of the world to change (to their way - what other?). I have a few other friends that always talk so positively...so much so, that I wonder if those folks have ever done math...for they say things like "you can be CEO, President, or whatever" to just about everyone they know. Well, that is positive, but positively untrue. Few people will ever achieve "ultra" status, so maybe just living for right now and recognizing the slightest achievement - even the mere participation in trying something - is rewarded simply for playing in the game of life. In my life experience, effort trumps potential or talent in most endeavors anyway. Of course, there is always the pessimist, who in the midst of a vault full of diamonds will find a way of dismissing those stones as having at one time been mere coal.
In the book, Good to Great, by Jim Collins, the author writes of the story of Admiral James Stockdale's experience as a senior officer at the Hanoi Hilton - the POW camp in Vietnam. The story goes that the first POWs to lose hope were the optimists...for the optimists were always so certain that they would all be out by Christmas. Yet when Christmas passed and the POWs were still there, the optimist would go into a deep funk. Of course, the pessimist did not fare much better. There is not much mention of idealists in the prison camp. I suppose that in the hell of a firefight or confinement of warriors by an enemy many Americans did not even know, the situation does not lend itself to perpetuate many Platos. Seems the men that survived the best at the "Hilton" were the men who realized life as precious, but took it as it was. While many had confidence that perhaps their lives would return to normal one day, most did not put a timeline to it or worry too much beyond the basics of everyday existence. I don't know for certain, and those who have never experienced a POW camp do not know for certain either, but I bet I would adjust - kinda like I do everyday in the real world. Perhaps you would do the same - but some of you are optimists, pessimists or idealists and like Admiral Stockdale wrote - your life (should you even survive) might be tougher than it needs to be - not because your life actually is tougher - but because you think it is.
I do not know what the coming years will bring. Many people I know are certain they know however. I hear everything from - the kids of today feel entitled --- America has lost its way ---- our dollar is forever gone - taxes will end our democracy - our moral fiber has decayed. What I notice about all of those comments is this: "they are old". Our great grandparents said all of them! I bet their great grandparents did too! You may agree with me or you may say - "Maybe, but today is different!" I say "Most likely we are no different than any generation before us. Our job is to live....not just talk about living."
In the early 80's I applied for an elite status in the U.S. Army. I asked several people for references. The best reference I got and to this day is still the best reference I have ever received was from a college professor who seemed to understand me fairly well. The reference was short, but it was on point and I still have it today. It read like this:
"Chip is neither the most intelligent nor the most creative student I have ever taught. He lacks certain traits of philosophical logic and passionate excitement. Further, he is not an exceptional orator or writer. But, and there is always a but....I have never met another student who when given a task executes almost flawlessly and never (and I mean NEVER) gives even the slightest hint of excuse of why it should not be done. Chip may never be able to articulate the need or lack of need for battle, but he will always make certain the soldiers under his command know that failure is not an option and questions are best left for those who cannot do what I know (and his senior officers will see) he can and will do. I always knew, even before our Department assigned Senior projects, that the grade Chip would earn was simply DONE COMPLETELY AND ON TIME! So, was Chip the best student? No. However, we all could learn a lot from him in regards to his focus on life - the end game is done the moment he starts. The Army will be getting a warrior and that is no philosophy."
I suppose I have not changed much in 30 years....and I can live with that....life is not that complicated.
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