Johnny Lingo has to be one of my favorite movies of all time, but for those of you who aren't as familiar with it, here is the skinny.
Johnny Lingo is one of the wealthier islanders on his island, and is well know for his trips and adventures out to sea, where he collects trade goods such as rare sea shells. Upon Johnny Lingo's return from one such endeavor, he announces that he will be choosing a wife. A frantic excitement ensues as the young and single women all wonder and hope that they will be chosen. Their fathers also hope their daughter will be "the one" as their tradition is that the groom-to-be pays the father of his future bride in cows.
The movie also focuses on one of the young women. Her name is Mahanna (I took my best guess on how to spell it). Most of the villagers see Mahanna as a poor, clumsy, dirty girl who they enjoy ridiculing, and her father treats her the worst. Saying things like "Mahanna you ugly! Come down from that tree!" and "Why would Johnny Lingo pick you? You dirty girl!"
There is a great scene with a few of the older island women gossiping to each other about who Johnny Lingo will pick, and How many cows he will pay for her, being that he is such a renowned trader, he could bargain for her. A few of the women are vain and have a conversation as follows "My husband paid 3 cows for me, I am a 3 cow wife!" "well my husband paid 4 cows for me!" "I would hardly call those scrawny animals cows!"
As fate would have it, Johnny Lingo does pick Mahanna. He goes to her father to strike up a deal. Mahanna's father is not only surprised that Johnny Lingo wants Mahanna, but also that he has offered to trade 8 cows for her. "EIGHT COWS??? That has never happened before on the history of the island!!!"
Of course her father accepts and the two are married.
When they return from their honeymoon, all the island is shocked with the change they see in Mahanna. Mahanna is beautiful and clean. She is happy and smiling, and when she returns to working the farms, she outperforms them all.
I love this story, it teaches so many good lessons, but there is one in general that always gets me.
There is power in valuing someone. Hope, Motivation and Enthusiasm, which are so difficult to find in people, are created in the souls of those we value.
I know that the warm and fuzzies stop here for many people, because I am switching gears to talk about sports, but stick with me, and I promise I won't let you down.
The 2010 NFL draft was this last week, and I have to say that I am proud to be a Broncos fan. Not because they are the best in the league, nor do I expect them to be, but because they are a good organization, full of good people.
Tim Tebow is arguably one of the best quarterbacks to ever play college football, just look at his stats, but that didn't stop many people from saying rude things and degrading him with harsh criticism. "His mechanics are bad" "he isn't actually a good leader" "he was lucky to be so surrounded with talent, that's why they won two national titles." Don't get me wrong, criticism is a powerful tool, but there was nothing constructive about what these people were saying.
Tebow responded by working hard and saying nothing.
As day one of the draft came, people continued to scoff that Tim would be drafted in either of the first or second rounds. Every one of those people went silent as the Broncos traded multiple other draft picks in order to move up and draft him in the first round.
This is why I am a fan, because in Denver they still believe in investing in people. They took Tim Tebow and they didn't say "Tim you are valuable to us." They did it. They didn't pretend anything. Actions speak with a power words can't describe. Now, Tebow hasn't set foot on the field just yet, so we will see how he does, but I am not worried at all. When you make an investment and show someone how far you are willing to go to help them out, its helps them do their part too. Which would you rather prefer?? A) A player with an attitude that they are the best and that's why they were drafted, or B) A player who thinks that you, You personally, value them. You value their time, their effort, their leadership, their skills, not to mention their BCS Titles.
I really believe that.
Let's take this off the football field, off the island, out of the internet, and let's make this real. When was the last time that you or I made a real investment in someone? When was the last time you felt that someone else really truly values you? In a world growing ever darker, who dares to shed light? To bring hope and direction to another, who may or may not know they are in need. When was the last time you conquered your impatience? When was the last time service and caring came before money and selfishness? Do you find yourself saying things that your actions don't match? I believe that if given the question "Do you want to live in a good world?" the vast majority of us would say yes, but when was the last time you drove the speed limit or told the truth in a hard spot? When was the last time you donated to a charity or helped someone out? I want to live in a world where people aren't afraid to help, where people aren't too selfish or caught up in something else to make the world a better place.
It all starts somewhere, with someone. Be that person! Value other people, their time and their effort, value their potential. Work on it everyday. Its a rude joke that society plays to pretend that charity and kindness is for the month of December or to get our taxes in order. We can be the start of something great. As you take your first step and turn to see an old world from a new perspective, remember the truth that is so often forgotten "Easier said than done, because actions speak louder than words."
This is like my big debut, and like anyone trying something for the first time, there are some very generic things I would like to say.
Blogging isn't something I ever really dreamed of doing, and as a direct result I am not quite sure how faithful I will be at this. Take a look at all those one time bloggers who started an account and wrote one blog about how much fun it is going to be to write every day and so on... and they didn't even bother to write a second one. Well, truth be told I might be one of the people, but who can say?
I'm also somewhat nervous. Like anyone who tries something for the first time I am uncertain, and I am sure that I am a sucky writer. I am hoping that this mild form of practice will help me at least figure out what kind of a writer I am. So if things are shaky in the beginning bear with me... (I think that by alluding to a "beginning" I am implying there will be more... don't be fooled this may be an empty promise.)
Well.. ok, so now I have been sitting at my computer trying really hard to think about what to write... I have been debating a few topics. I could give one of those awkward self introductions, (you know the kind that you started every diary or journal you ever wrote in) or I could just go off on some random topic, (which makes a blog feel like a college journal response assignment) or I could just keep rambling about things that are even less entertaining than either of those things...
When I was thinking about this entry earlier I thought about writing about all the ideas I have during the day, but I have decided against that because on the off chance that I might have a good idea I would hate for someone to read it on my blog page and steal it from me. I am not sure that there is anything more humiliating than watching someone else get filthy rich off your idea.
Then again, I once wrote a little something something about ideas and such, maybe that's what I'll do with my opening blog... I will publish my writing!!!
"Cheez-it's"
You're walking down the street and the perfect idea hits you coupled with a dose of random inspiration. In that moment the world is a bigger, better brighter place, where maybe, just maybe, you could be happy.
I get random thoughts all the time. Good ideas, dumb ideas, some clever and some not. Occasionally I'll get a thought so great I'll think, "WOW! I need to remember that!" and if I were a genius, I could remember it, but alas, I am not, and eventually I forget. The thought having eluded me, being replaced by some brainwashing advertisement of one sort or another.
It is often enough perpetuated that truly talent people always carry a pen or pencil and a notebook around, so that they can write down and record their good ideas and inspirations as they come. Sometimes I wonder "If they are truly 'talented' people, why do they need so much inspiration?" I'm getting off topics aren't I?
Well, I tried this trick of carrying a pen a notebook around with me, and I learned something. Pen and paper are they recipe for a good idea blocking poison! But the one day I forgot to bring my "idea book" with me, fate just happens to deliver a bounty of great ideas into my mind, know all along that by the time I got the chance to write them down I'd be screwed.
I like to refer to this method of receiving ideas and inspiration as "indirect" because no one really knows where it comes from. However, since everything comes from something else, (law of science where nothing is created or destroyed, rather reorganized) it has to have come from somewhere, we just can't trace it, so let's put it simply as "indirect".
FACT: All the good ideas never seem to get written down.
Direct inspiration on the other hand, is traceable. An excellent example is that I just finished reading an outstanding book, during which I had many great thoughts come to me. The only problem with direct inspiration is running the risk of copying someone elses idea; usually resulting in a cheaper, crappier version than the original. It is safe to say that Vanilla Ice was just as directly inspired by Queen as Edison was from Tesla.
Look it up.
Nowadays, we call that plagiarism, which defined means: to steal the work of another and pass it off as one's own. The definition fails to mention but should also include that plagiarism is often done by people struggling to get good grades in college or trying to get rich quick. However plagiarism merely aides people to get thrown out of college or sued.
Drugs and alcohol can also be sources of direct brainstorming, but I would never categorize a drug addiction as inspirational in any way, shape or form. If those drug abusing artists, authors, actors, etc think that they are fooling me for one second, they can forget it. I don't support that crap.
PERSONAL OPINION: Direct inspiration is equally if not more useless than all the amazing indirect inspiration that no one ever bothered to write down.
Wait! What happened?? A moment ago the world was a shiny new place where you were a short distance away from starting a new life, pursuing this new idea. I'll tel you what happened, you didn't write it down, or perhaps you've realized that someone else already had this idea, and that they did a better job than you or I ever could. Don't feel bad though, not producing your idea isn't always a bad thing. I mean, what if your "finished product" -whatever it may be,- totally sucked? You would have wasted a lot of time and effort, and to top it all off even if you had "succeeded" not everyone would like your idea, in fact, some people might really hate it. Here's a fantastic example. World of Warcraft is the single most successful game of all time. They have sold more than 15 million copies, and it is still growing. Those guys are rolling in the dough, and they think they are happy, but they really aren't. All it would take to ruin one of their days would be for one person to walk in there, get right in their face and yell, "15 million people might like World of Warcraft, but they other 6 Billion of us thinks it sucks!" All that would be left at this point would be to beat on of them up, while repeatedly screaming "Game over!"
I would like to take a moment to explain exactly what you accomplished by avoiding success. You saved yourself a lot of future pain and misery caused by having too much money, too much responsibility, too many fans and even the occasional hate group. Think of it this way. If you aren't anyone important, or doing anything important, or going any important places, you will never be a target for terrorists. Aren't you glad that terrorists aren't targeting you? They might be if you were successful.
Ok, ok, ok back to the topic at large, your brilliant ideas, more particularly why you don't need them, Let's be serious here, You don't need them! (and they aren't that great to begin with.) It's like this though... Have you ever just slept in??? Given in to the laziness and just stayed in bed? Of course you have. Remember how great that was? How nice it was to just sleep? It was really nice huh? Why can't everyday be like that? I'm not joking either. I heard a great quote the other day, and I believe it supports my argument fully. It reads "Hard work MIGHT pay off later, laziness ALWAYS pays off now." Pure brilliance.
In conclusion, and simply put, you could carry a notebook around, get an amazing idea, write it down, work hard on it for a long time, and maybe you could get rich, or famous, or in some other way have the delusion of being happy, who knows, you may even make the world a better place... or you could quit hoping for a long shot, admit the world isn't going to change, (at least not for the better), grab a box of cheez-it's and crawl into bed. That's where true happiness is... I love cheez-it's.
Until next time!
Spencer
