An important lesson one learns from parents of humble beginnings, is to believe that anything that can be thought of can be willed to come true. It is the stuff of fairytale and fiction, but for those who have made do with very little growing up, it is the only reason for being and the only motivation to do anything. Dream big, they said. Anything is possible.
Time is a limited commodity, because the future could never wait. The leisure of the present is irrational. One keeps moving, looking over to the horizon to see whether the actions of now bear fruit. Focus, they said. Focus. Of more single-minded people, I do not know. When one has little control over his circumstances, one learns quickly that self-mastery is the only thing that would keep anyone going. No fairy-god mother will come to the rescue. No magic solutions will present. No abundance of choices are available. Stay your course and keep your eyes trained at the point where you expect, expect to see your results. Peristence, and fortitude are essentials along with hard work. Passive hope is inutile and fragile.
One does not bother with trifles. My parents, while easygoing as the occasion called for, were serious people. I suppose it comes with thinking you were always on a mission.
Because the future doesn’t wait, you learn there isn’t any sense in putting anything off to be dealt with later. Because the future doesn’t wait and there isn’t anything to lose, then one learns that to gain anything one must take risks. And in gambling, you win some, you lose some. In losing you accept that nothing can be accomplished by dwelling on what cannot be undone. You can only do so content in the notion that you have done all you can.
And finally, the solution to anything is to keep moving.
These things they never said explicitly. But in their doing I learned what no amount of sermons would ever have accomplished.
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