any single wednesday

If life is truly one huge highway, then we can be sure that the highway will cover all kinds of terrain. Hopefully, a long road that will have it’s share of hills and valleys. As long as we’re moving, regardless of time and speed, we are heading somewhere…the problems arise when we get sidetracked, confused, or simply stuck in the mud.

Each year I’m always surprised at the amount of people that I run into who seem to have, sadly, given up their dreams and just pass time doing the mundane, and without realizing it, given up. For some reason along the road of life they have decided that their dream is over, and it’s senseless to continue to try to reach their goals. On the human highway, they have guided their car off the road and into the mud. Once there, rather than try to get back on the road, they have decided to turn off the engine, and wait. All of our lives have value…no dream or goal is too big, and when we decide to quit, we give notice to ourselves and to others that we are just going to sit around and mark the time, until we die….finito (plus the ending credits go up). Doom and gloom, but that is what happens.

I will share with you a story that I’ve got from my email. Natalie Wood, before she passed away, went to Russia to film a documentary on the people of the Soviet Union. At the time, Communism was in full play. As she went about the country, what started to strike her was that she noticed the people under thirty years old seemed alert and energetic, while after thirty, year by year people got heavy, and developed addictions to different types of substances, mostly alcohol. She came to the conclusion that in Russia, at that time, dreams died at the age of thirty. When I was back in my teens, I used to often go over to a particular friend’s house, and one day I noticed that her father was very sad. I said to my friend’s mother, “ba’t para hong ang sad niya?” She said that he’s turning old, and he realized that there are many things he will not be able to accomplish.” My friend’s father, I kid you not, was devastated at turning fifty, and realizing that many of his dreams had not been accomplished by that age…so, I guess he was deciding to just give up…not being aware that perhaps these dreams and goals could still be realized, at sixty, seventy or well beyond. Unfortunately, as we drive along the human highway, there are quite a few vehicles stuck in the mud.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been stuck in the mud a couple of times. I just decided not to stay there….I got out of my car, found a couple of two by fours, stuck them under the back wheels, rocked the car back and forth, hit the gas, and never looked back! I refused to believe that there was no hope at getting back on the road. If one is stuck in the mud, someone can stop by to give you a hand….just make sure that their intentions are good. Each one of us is unique….and our goals and dreams are priceless. As long as we aim realistically, we can succeed. While there are those who never venture again out of the mud, there are far more who have learned to press onward. The mud can be a curse, or a blessing…how we handle it, we decide.

Onward and upward……

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ie commented on the last post that i’m getting good at this chicken soup thing…. hmm career-in ko nga.