So tonight's post is about something we all hold onto very deep inside of us, something that is at times infinitesimal and sometimes it is bigger than your mind can even imagine.
Tonight's post is about Hope.
We all have it. For some of us, it's all we have, but universally speaking, it is the most important thing that will ever bind us as a species. I say species because as far as I know, dogs, cat, gorillas, no one, other than humans, has hope. Which is to say (and I know there are religions/belief structures that disagree, but leave the semantics at the web browser) we are the only species with a soul.
Which leads me to this French proverb (note in you ledger, possibly the only time I will commend the French for anything....):
“Hope is the dream of a soul awake.”
Think about that for second......what is it saying? There is the age old cliche "a fire burning in your soul." I would tend to agree with that assessment. What has driven us for as long as we have existed is Hope. Hope for wars to end, for racial equality, for a better job, for someone special to say they love you, for that little stick you peed on to say yay (or nay?).
My first question is: What do you hope for? Start small then work to the bigger stuff.
I am going to follow this up by raining on the parade. Hope is not always enough. The other old cliche: "Wish in one hand, shit in the other and see which one fills up first." Hope is merely the motivation, the driving force that dictates our actions or dedications towards that next step. Unless you do your work well, you say "I love you" first, or unless you bump uglys (excluding the Immaculate Conception, but then again, Mary did kind of "make it" with God....or was it the angel who appeared that was the guilty culprit....maybe Mary just sat on the wrong toilet seat that night?), Hope won't ever be enough.
The point is, you can have Hope, but without the mechanics of action, Hope is nothing. "Many men lead lives of quiet desperation." Those men failed to act, no doubt.
So my second question, to directly follow the first, is: What the fuck have you done about it lately?
When I talk with people, we invariably cover what they want (read: Hope for) in life. Then we cover how they are going about getting to that point. If you are the person who just gives me roadblocks when I try and suggest paths to take to get there, YOU ARE THAT MAN OF QUIET DESPERATION. And for that, I pity you.
Going "balls to the wall" isn't just an expression of working hard. It means you risked something, because if you know (and judging by my current following of readers, you don't) what slamming your testicles into a wall feels like, you would know that whatever it is you are trying to achieve must be hoped and wanted pretty damn bad (PS slamming your testicles into anything FUCKING HURTS, do not try/ask a male friend to do).
I'm not going to post another "Classic Man" tonight because I think it would be silly. A "Classic Man" in this case, is a man who takes that hope and acts on it. A man who risks his well being for his betterment, to achieve his goals, or to protect/care for his family. Think about someone in your life that has risked something to achieve a goal. They took their Hope and acted on it. That person is the "Classic Man" for today, the person that refuses to lead a "Life of quiet desperation."
So again:
What do you hope for?
What are you going to do about it?
Great, now go get 'em, Tiger!
I HOPE you all have fair winds and following seas......
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