In the wake of Randy Pausch and this post celebrating both Pausch and Jim Valvano it seems appropriate to link to this earlier post citing from a talk by comedian Patton Oswalt. "First off," says Oswalt, "Reputation, Posterity and Cool are traps. They'll drain the life from your life. Reputation, Posterity and Cool = Fear." Right. "Secondly: The path is made by walking. And when you're walking that path, you choose how things affect you. You always have that freedom, no matter how much your liberty it curtailed. You... get to choose... how things affect you." Right again. And, finally, "There Is No Them."
Why does any of this matter? A little (very personal) story: as I was walking around Memphis, late at night, in the dark, talking to people on the street, I realized, I was not afraid. It was, for me, a very unusual feeling. You know, because you can say all this stuff about being your own person and all that, but in the end, this knowledge (like all knowledge) comes down to having the right sort of feeling, the right sort of sensation. Which, once had, is impossible to thereafter ignore (kind of like, as I have so often said, finding Waldo). We may get to choose - yes - but there is a very long journey between the choosing and the feeling, and that is what exploring the world is all about.
Why does any of this matter? A little (very personal) story: as I was walking around Memphis, late at night, in the dark, talking to people on the street, I realized, I was not afraid. It was, for me, a very unusual feeling. You know, because you can say all this stuff about being your own person and all that, but in the end, this knowledge (like all knowledge) comes down to having the right sort of feeling, the right sort of sensation. Which, once had, is impossible to thereafter ignore (kind of like, as I have so often said, finding Waldo). We may get to choose - yes - but there is a very long journey between the choosing and the feeling, and that is what exploring the world is all about.
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