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Childhood dreams. Heroes.
Apr. 9th, 2010 10:26 amSo a while ago I watched The Last Lecture - Really achieving your childhood dreams - a presentation given by Randy Pausch from Carnegie Mellon University who had been diagnosed with cancer and had only a few months to live. At the time I promised myself to come back to it.
Over the last couple of weeks I've finally managed to keep that promise. Re-watching the Last Lecture and pretty much everything else I could find on Professor Pausch from YouTube - after the video of the presentation went viral he became a minor celebrity. I've collated many of them at another blog of mine which I recently re-purposed for collecting such things.
I also went out and purchased the book yesterday, which will go on my short-term-loan list once I've read it a couple of times.
~~~
Childhood dreams. I didn't have many, not that I can remember anyway. Probably growing up where I did my world was just too small, even with my voracious reading, much of which was books from earlier generations. The only one I can really remember is wanting to be a superhero (or maybe the Lone Ranger who I was exposed to not through reading, but the kids hour on weekend radio). I even got my mother to buy me bright uni-coloured tracksuits to run around in.
Superheroes don't really exist, but regular heroes do. Some go out and risk everything on a daily basis - firefighters, police, ambulance and so on. They're visible heroes. Some provide support to these people - call centre operators, dispatchers, counsellors - maybe you don't think of them often, but you know they're there, you know they work long hours and at the end of the day it's not just a job for many if any of them. I don't think I could do this.
Some find themselves with the option or are directly of put in harms way through circumstance. They are proof that anyone has it in themselves to be a hero under extraordinary circumstances.
Some find a cause that calls them to help others - charity workers, aid workers, people who up sticks and volunteer for disaster relief teams. I could be one of these, but I've not found a specific cause that matches the sort of contribution I want to make. My current big dreams involve making my own causes - housing stock renewal projects, greentech venture capital funds, educational grants & scholarships.
Some people try every day and in every way to make the world a better place. These are the really invisible heroes, just doing their best to make a small difference with what they have. I don't come close to every day and every way, but in wanting to be a hero this is the sort of person I try to be. I might never significantly change anyone's life this way, but I can maybe take the pressure off for a short while.
It's hubris to want be that agent of fate, the 'Knight in Shining Armour', the superhero saving the day, making others see the error of their ways and removing the barriers which hold them back from their potential. I can't even do that for myself, but I can dream. And maybe someday I'll find a way to realise some of that dream, in a good way.
Over the last couple of weeks I've finally managed to keep that promise. Re-watching the Last Lecture and pretty much everything else I could find on Professor Pausch from YouTube - after the video of the presentation went viral he became a minor celebrity. I've collated many of them at another blog of mine which I recently re-purposed for collecting such things.
I also went out and purchased the book yesterday, which will go on my short-term-loan list once I've read it a couple of times.
~~~
Childhood dreams. I didn't have many, not that I can remember anyway. Probably growing up where I did my world was just too small, even with my voracious reading, much of which was books from earlier generations. The only one I can really remember is wanting to be a superhero (or maybe the Lone Ranger who I was exposed to not through reading, but the kids hour on weekend radio). I even got my mother to buy me bright uni-coloured tracksuits to run around in.
Superheroes don't really exist, but regular heroes do. Some go out and risk everything on a daily basis - firefighters, police, ambulance and so on. They're visible heroes. Some provide support to these people - call centre operators, dispatchers, counsellors - maybe you don't think of them often, but you know they're there, you know they work long hours and at the end of the day it's not just a job for many if any of them. I don't think I could do this.
Some find themselves with the option or are directly of put in harms way through circumstance. They are proof that anyone has it in themselves to be a hero under extraordinary circumstances.
Some find a cause that calls them to help others - charity workers, aid workers, people who up sticks and volunteer for disaster relief teams. I could be one of these, but I've not found a specific cause that matches the sort of contribution I want to make. My current big dreams involve making my own causes - housing stock renewal projects, greentech venture capital funds, educational grants & scholarships.
Some people try every day and in every way to make the world a better place. These are the really invisible heroes, just doing their best to make a small difference with what they have. I don't come close to every day and every way, but in wanting to be a hero this is the sort of person I try to be. I might never significantly change anyone's life this way, but I can maybe take the pressure off for a short while.
It's hubris to want be that agent of fate, the 'Knight in Shining Armour', the superhero saving the day, making others see the error of their ways and removing the barriers which hold them back from their potential. I can't even do that for myself, but I can dream. And maybe someday I'll find a way to realise some of that dream, in a good way.
