We all have a calling in life, that inner voice that whispers to you as a youth, beckoning you towards the woods, the magical essence within that battles the mundane, material world around you, the Spirit that holds fast and adheres to the belief that there is something more to this life than monotonous work, money, sex, and a white picket fence. Most kill the inner voice, or allow it to be killed, by the whispers of parents, teachers, friends and acquaintances who say there is nothing you can do to change the world, you are nobody, just like us, just a number, and you can’t be anything more, so work the same destructive job every day for the next forty years, don’t question anything, and retire when you are too old to do anything. If you listen to them, you’re bound to end up like them. They think this is all there is to life because it is all they have known, their inner voice died long ago, they never ventured beyond the boundaries of the box, they never questioned anything, or maybe they did and were shunned for it and therefore, since that time, have kept their mouth shut because of the consequences for speaking out. They have become stuck in an old worn out rut on a wide path that goes round and round in a circle, never breaking free. Their beliefs have become their own restrictions. For example, a young 14 year old boy who grows up in modern day West Virginia has dreams of becoming a great guitar player and folk singer, yet his father, grandfather and great grandfather were all coal miners, all stuck in a rut. As a youth, his father tells him constantly to get his head out of the clouds, that he’ll never amount to anything more than a coal miner, it’s in his blood. If the young man starts to believe this, he is likely to end up a coal miner, his belief/dream of being a great musician has now been killed by those around him, but if he sticks to his dream, not listening to the evil whispers around him, works hard, purchases a guitar and practices, if he is adamant and steadfast, surely I tell you, he will break out of that coal mining circle of a rut and forge his own path, blaze his own trail, venture into the unknown and do what they say can’t be done. For it is written, a prophet is without honor only in his hometown. For legends and heros, those for whom tales of adventure been based upon and songs of heroic deeds sung, those who are remembered for thousands of years after their death, have rarely been known to be factory workers. For what bard sings about worker bees? Songs are sung about kings and knights, those who break the mold. What if Jesus had been satisfied with the occupation of a carpenter and never ventured for anything more, I tell you he would have been forgotten real quick, but he didn’t, he stuck to his beliefs like a fly on shit, even unto the point of death, and to this day remains a hero, a legend, a fish-tale. How will history remember you, as the hero? The villain? The victim? Or will it even remember you at all? The goal, however, is not to be remembered, but rather to hang onto your beliefs and fight for them, this is your story, not anybody else’s. Jesus could have cared less if he was remembered for this long, what matters was that he stood up for his beliefs, he was his own king, and bowed his knee to no one, but yet to everyone. When the crowds booed him and disowned him, he stayed true to himself. When his family and friends denied knowing him, he still believed in himself, and that was his power that no one could take away. Someone who has lots of money and a big fast car might think they have power, as they drive by a hitchhiker with nothing in his pocket, they gas it and swerve at the hitchhiker, then laugh as they drive away, and that makes them think they have power. But the hitchhiker is unmoved and unimpressed with this foolish display, neither is he ashamed of having nothing, for he knows that if you take the car and money away from the "bad-ass", you also take away his power, but his (the- hitchhikers) power comes from within and cannot be taken away, he stands steadfast, even against mockery, persecution and the threat of death.
Eloquent, true, but hardly random... I presume the title refers to the quality one needs to get through that post.
