The seeds of passion
Published on August 11, 2014
It all matters. Everything in life has a point and offers the chance to see our lives from a different perspective or to have our own, sometimes fledgling beliefs strengthened. This story came to me before, but the words written on the pages of the book given to me as a birthday present from my father-in-law settled into that part of the brain where I took notice. The book is called "The Last Lecture". Many of you have likely heard of the story of the young professor who, when faced with certain death from pancreatic cancer decided to do for real what most professors pontificate over during their careers. Give the last lecture. The premise being, if you had only one lecture left to give because you were dying, what would it be. "What wisdom would you impart on the world if you knew this was your last chance and what would you want your legacy to be?" A very powerful premise given that for this professor and father of three little boys the weight his words carry are palpable. Near the end of the first chapter titled, "An Injured Lion Still Wants to Roar" he was able to articulate what his decision was of what his last lecture was going to be about. Here is what he wrote, "It came to me in a flash. Whatever my accomplishments, all of the things I loved were rooted in the dreams and goals I had as a child....and in the ways I had managed to fulfill almost all of them. My uniqueness, I realized, came in the specifics of all of the dreams - from incredibly meaningful to decidedly quirky - that defined my forty six years of life. I've decided to call the lecture, "Really achieving your childhood dreams". When I read those words they jumped off the page. Words that are still here, surviving the writer himself. Words that sum up what I have always believed. That our dreams we had as a child, while covered up and painted over, still offer the greatest opportunity to peer into our own soul and find out what makes us tick. Those dreams are still there. Go looking. You just may find them there, waiting at the bottom of the trunk for someone to dust them off and breathe life into them once again. We were all born with the seeds of passion. Have an excellent day. Be well, Randy Taylor