Mark Twain said,
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
The bottomline of the previous statements made by Mark Twain (author of one of the best-selling novels, Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn) is that you should stay away from your safety blanket. Risk and explore! Risking and exploring goes together always. When you risk, you explore. When you explore, you’re taking risks. I remembered one time when one of my college professors told us in class that his father did not teach him how to play basketball. I guess he was frustrated with that since he was telling it to every block in the College of Engineering. However, he should have taken the risks of failing to shoot the ball, failing to dribble it properly, failing to pass the ball to your teammate without being intercepted by the opposing team, failing to catch the ball and failing to win.
There are also some people who have the guts to explore and most of them are youngsters. A perfect example would be my nephews. My nephews are really creative in playing. Both of them got a Yoda action figure and at the same time, they also got an action figure of their favorite Justice League character. Justin was playing with the typewriter and as he was typing, he discovered that the carriage moves. Because of his Spider-man-like imagination, he was able to re-enact the Spider-man-like scene without Spider-man. He placed Yoda on top of the carriage. Then, he placed Batman on the side of the carriage. Then, Justin pressed the spacebar as fast as he could as if the carriage of the typewriter is a train. He will repeat it only if Batman will fall down on the floor.
Also, I’d like to share to you another story. When me and some of my friends were hanging out at BigSkyMind and drinking, Twisted Halo frontman Vin Dancel related to me that he’s a lawyer and he has been practicing it. Because of his love for music, he joined the local rock scene and he firmly believed that it was not too late to form a band. He also said that when he reach 40, he does not want to say to himself that “I wish I did it”.
Pagdating ko ng 40, ayokong magsisi dahil sa hindi ko nagawa ang mga bagay na gusto kong gawin.
-Vin Dancel, Twisted Halo (not the exact words but what’s written here is the gist of what he said)
Even though we’ve had so much alcohol intake already at that time, I was inspired by his words. It’s like I’ve digested a “pulutan” for thought.
From one of my favorite movies entitled, “Dead Poets Society”,
“Carpe Diem!”
Seize the day! Explore! Dream! Discover!
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