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| A
visionary creation of the imagination |
You are in a store. You try on a garment that fits you perfectly.
You try on another, but it's too large, it itches a bit, the sleeves
drag on the floor. Both garments sell for the same price. Which
do you buy?
It isn't a trick question: You should buy the one that fits better,
of course. This logic can also apply to the way we decide to live
our lives. We know intuitively that there is a life we long to have,
a dream we've harbored-sometimes since childhood. But too often
we decide to follow a path that is not really our own, one that
others have set for us. We forget that whichever way we go, the
price is the same: in both caswe will pass through difficult and
happy moments, hours of solitude, and many complex situations. But
when we are living our dream, the difficulties we encounter make
sense.
You may have heard the parable of the three men laboring in a field
of rocks. Each is asked what he is doing. The first man says, "Can't
you see? I'm breaking rocks!" The second man replies, "Can't
you see? I'm earning my salary!" The third man answers, his
eyes gleaming with enthusiasm, "Can't you see? I'm building
a cathedral!" This lovely story, which my mother first told
me when I was a child, illustrates both the necessity of hard work
in realizing a dream as well as the need to keep the vision in your
mind's eye-even when others don't see or understand it.
The money we receive in return for our eight hours of work each
day can be spent any number of ways; the only thing we cannot buy
is extra time. So, during the minutes we have, I believe it is better
to live a dream rather than to simply dream it. The dream is the
start of something greater, something that impels us to make daring
decisions. And it's true that the person who pursues a dream takes
many risks. But the person who does not runs risks that are even
greater. |
