To dream the impossible dream, encourages hope, for as Henry Ford once said, “There is no man living, who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can do,” thus defining that undefinable quality that is potential.
While fighting the unbeatable foe, is what you do, when you simply must, to reach your potential, you will bear with unbearable sorrow the losses that your mortality blesses you with, and you will be able to run where the brave dare not go, in facing your challenges, which you must, to achieve your full potential.
Righting the un-right able wrong, is what parents must do, they must intervene when they see their kids on the wrong path, while loving, pure and chaste from afar, as they give them space, lifting them up, even when our arms are too weary, as they strive to reach the ‘unreachable star’ of their potential.
Their quest, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far, is something they can rarely achieve alone. And as Edmund Hilary was lifted by Sherpa Tensing, with the pair conquering Mt Everest, we must join them in their glorious quest, without question or pause, to be willing, to be true, so they will be peaceful and calm when they achieve that potential goal.
Few of us achieve our true potential, because we don’t work hard enough! It may not be that they are ‘shirkers,’ or lazy, but simply that our energies are being spent in the wrong direction. Scorned and covered with the scars, the youth must strive with their last ounce of courage helpful, but not enough as they seek the ‘impossible.’
Well, that’s it. I’ve had my fun, and with both apologies and thanks to the wonderful Miguel De Cervantes and his inspirational Don Quixote, who Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion, with their amazing ‘Impossible Dream,” have brought joy and hope to so many generations, and made so many... believe. The Man of La Mancha may not be real, but the sentiments certainly are, as we seek to inspire today’s pandemic scarred generation towards bigger and better things, to unleash their full potential.
Psychotherapist Alice Miller says many of our young adults don’t really know who they are, saying they can be successful if they care enough, but are hindered by the depression, emptiness, and alienation that often lies beneath the surface, rendering their lives, in their eyes, virtually meaningless, which is sad, when we are talking about their potential.
Miller also often sees those who ‘tick every box,’ on the outside, yet are modest achievers. They have sought to be all that their parents ever wanted, which is entirely understandable and laudable, but if they have never felt free to express disagreements, different opinions, and better ways of doing things... they can never be the ‘free’ thinkers that drives them remorselessly towards their full potential.
Utkarsh Amitabh, CEO of Blockchain ‘Unicorn,’ Network Capital writes that they must “align with their long-term goals,” to reach the unreachable star. So, all they do must be with “informed career choices,” hard work, and good advice... and he knows what he is talking about, he’s worth $1.5 billion.
On the other hand, some kids, like some parents, need to be in control. Personally, I rarely am. Fortunately, I know where I am in life’s ever-changing social dynamic. But those who must be in control, when they lose control, tend to meltdown in epic proportions, and all seems irretrievably lost. It’s not really, but in their minds... chaos reigns, and goals, at that moment, seem so far away.
An absolute hero of my generation, the great pugilist Cassius Clay, who converted to Islam, and as Muhammad Ali said, “Impossible is just a word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given, than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact! It is an opinion! Impossible is potential.”
So, as Cervantes, Don Quixote, and the Man of La Mancha are all at great pains to show us, their impossible dream, their potential... isn’t as far away as an unreachable star.
The writer is a media consultant
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