Driven: Caged Lion

Driven: Caged Lion

Caged Lion

For some people they’re 401k might keep them up at night or the prospect of retirement might scare them into cold sweat and panic attacks but for me it’s the opposite. The here and now scares me to the extent where I feel like the neck tie I wear to work every day is choking the creativity out of me. Maybe it’s my innate nature trying to tell me something. Maybe it’s the lack of intuition to turn my ideas into creative unique realities that I can immerse myself into for hours on end before coming back to reality. Or maybe it’s a lack of infrastructure in the island where I presently reside. Whatever the issue may be I sometimes feel like my purpose is not being fulfilled. Wanting to learn more and ensuring a better quality of life in the long run lead me to university to pursue a tertiary education. Hands down it was a great escape from reality for me and I would do it again on any given day. But now I find myself feening for a change of environment, scenery, and overall experience. I now know how those lions in the zoo in Port of Spain feel behind that 16inch think glass. The saying goes “it’s a jungle out there” but have we ever stopped to think that some people are born to be wild (no pun intended). For some the open plains are their fountain of youth. It is what keeps them up at night with the wheels of creativity going a hundred miles down the high way of dreams heading to the promise land where dreams become realities and passions become pay checks. To add perspective to my wandering thoughts I’ll relay a story from “What the dog saw” by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell wrote about an executive who had a position of notable mention in a company of high esteem who quit in order to pursue a career as a writer. Equipped with only the experienced garnered from a few creative writing classes in college, he sets off on a whirl win adventure to pursue an ideal that was far removed from his area of expertise. If one were to only see the beginning of this story and the successful end it would seem like a walk in the park. However Gladwell goes deeper into the processes that lead to a best seller and reveals writing routine that was rigid and involved numerous trips to Haiti to explore plot points for a work of art that seemed to change ever so often. What may have seemed like an instant hit was a labor of love, time and experience but it was a decision that some may have thought two, three or four times about. Mention was also made of two famous artists, one who peaked early in life and the other was a late bloomer. Both have their names etched in the walls of history despite the fact that their journeys were as different as could be. Needless to say for some its an instant hit, while for others it’s a painful process but doing what we loving and loving what we do is the main goal. At the end of the day I have to ask myself, “Self, are you a caged lion or a wandering elephant?”

Time to Fight

Tuning into a popular radio show on my way to work this morning I came across my blog post for the week. As the history books will reflect in years to come, famous West Indian fast bowler Curtley Ambrose has been inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. His name and legacy will continue to be mentioned among the greats of his era and also for those to come after. It was not until I heard Mr. Ambrose on the radio that I recalled seeing the story in the papers a day or two ago. A question that was asked of him that inspired the writing of this piece. The host asked “What is it that drove you and motivated you throughout the various games” to which Mr. Ambrose replied “It wasn’t until our backs were against the wall that I decided within myself that we weren’t going to lose". Simply as it seems this is the reality of what many of us are faced with not only where our jobs are concerned but also where family life is concerned as well. We might have been looked over for that promotion time and time again and facing the unemployment line when we finally decide to buckle down and decide that come what may we are not going to lose. For some this may be our normal mode of operation but for others our killer instincts may only present itself after we have failed time and time again. Rest assured that the day will present itself that you decide that you have had enough of being second best and you muster all the courage you have to fight your way out of the corner that you’ve been backed into for years. For Curtley Ambrose his crowning moment may have been being inducted into the hall of fame, what will yours be?

Back to School

Remember Remember the 1st of September. I’m not 100% sure that’s how the saying goes but it has a nice ring to it none the less. I was watching the local morning news show this morning when I remembered that its back to school day for the nation’s youth. This undoubtedly means, new shoes, new uniforms, new backpacks, new books, stationery of all sorts and all manner of other necessities that makes the first day of the new school year an event rivaled only by Christmas and Birthdays. After thinking about how much more traffic is going to be on the roads, I began summing up the amount of years I spent as a student. Not surprisingly though it amounted to twenty years i.e. (2-preschool, 7-primary, 5-secondary, 2- college, 4-university). Needless to say that at 25 that’s more than half my life. What do I have to show for it? Well in a literal sense 3 school leaving certificates, 6 CXC’s, a Diploma, and a Bachelors degree. Sounds like a good collection huh. I guess so. But it was a long time coming and allot of hours spent reading, writing, editing, and also not forgetting procrastination (the number one reason people fail in school). I have had more graduations than I have parking tickets (none actually) and have done more group presentations and speeches than eulogies (none of those either). I guess it’s safe to say that I am an experienced schooler (not an actual word but could be defined as someone who has attended school for most of their life). However no amount of schooling (actual word) can prepare you for what is to come after you graduate from school as there is no graduation from life as long as you’re still living it.

Each day is a new experience with more opportunities than there are days in a week (7 if you’re following) the onus is on us to find them, exploit them, and embrace them. Knowing what I know now, I would go back to secondary/primary school, simply because I know I would be that much more in tuned with what was going on. I can safely say now that all the teachers who said “take your school work seriously because you never know where you’ll end up in life” definitely knew what they were speaking about. In hindsight, the values they tried to instill in us are the same ones the world of work now demands (hard work, dedication, team work, and doing your homework). Needless to say that homework seems that much more attractive when it is tied into your yearend bonus but not when it means you can’t watch endless hours of Cartoon Network/BET. I guess we just needed some perspective and motivation to get us going.

Some might want to insert here that there are hundreds of not thousands or millions of persons who made it without setting foot in a classroom and to them I say well done. But for those who have to pass through the hallowed walls of the institutions of learning I say congratulations to you as well. For it is in these hollowed walls that you will be challenged, berated, idolized, and “educated”. You will make lifelong friends and or enemies but rest assured you may one day look back on these days and say beyond the shadow of a doubt “best days ever”.

Believe it or not we live in a world that values people for what they know. Notwithstanding that you can know allot without being formally educated but it’s always good to be able to trace your roots and be able to say, I am a product of School X,Y, or even Z. At the end of the day you can put a price on education (just ask your parents) but the value of a sound education reaches way beyond the classroom, your cubicle, or even your corner office with the view.

So for those who are heading back to school or for those of you already in the world of work I say enjoy it and make the best of it each and every day.