If you had just one day to live as an adult what would you do with it? Would you find love? Would you go skydiving? Would you see as many places as you could? Would you rob a bank? Would you speak to as many people as you could? What would you say? What would you leave behind?
Now if you had 32850 days to live, would you squander 5000 of them, or 20,000 of them, or would your list of things to do just keep getting longer from day 1? Who did you want to be before you died? Who do your children want to be? Who could they be?
Almost from birth we are told that we can be anything we want when we grow up. As if growing up is something that happens in some undetermined future reality, like we are supposed to wait for it, and there is an undetermined amount of time before that happens. Growing up caught up with me quick, I wish I wouldn’t have been patient about so many things. I wish I was told that if I wanted to be a pilot, I had to start being a pilot from my first day of elementary school. I wish I was told that if I wanted to be a detective, or a doctor; that I had to start being a detective and a doctor from my first day of school.
As soon as I knew I had 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 eyes, 2 ears, and one intelligent, logical, brain I wish someone had explained that I had to start being what I wanted to be because those were all the tools I was going to get. A doctor must get straight A’s in school. A doctor must strive to get accepted to medical school. A detective must get straight A’s in school; a detective must get accepted into a great school with a great criminal justice program. A Lawyer must have a good grasp of history, know how to find information for research, and touch people’s hearts and minds. I wish someone had told me I had to start learning all of that from my first day of kindergarten, or even a little before. I wish I had known a long time ago that space and time are our own perceptions, our own illusions; that space and time are only the existence of a reality that we share, but all perceive differently; that what matters is what we fill the space and time with. Do we fill them with learning, and doing or only with waiting and dreaming? For the sake of your children’s fulfillment; tell them that the time is now. If they want to be a soldier they have to start being the best soldier they can be now. If they want to be a medical student and a doctor, they have to start being a medical student and a doctor now. That means doing great in school, volunteering for as many programs as they can learning to be a good follower, learning to be a good leader now, not later, later is exactly that… too late. Your child can be anything he/she wants when he/she grows up, as long as they start growing up now, which they are going to do anyway, whether you and they are ready or not.
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