I had too many things to write about.
Seriously - it's like this faucet is turned on in my brain, and there are so many ideas burbling around that I'm likely to spring a leak.**1
But as these ideas burble around, it's hard to focus on one or another so I can write about it and entertain you as thoroughly as I ought.
Which leads me to this:
My second prompted blog post.**2
Name up to six impossible things you believe in.
There is a quote about impossibility that I saw when I was a freshman in high school English class. My teacher had it posted on her wall:
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live the world they have been given, rather than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It is an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It is a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." - Muhammad Ali
I remember it being visually striking because it was printed boldly on a poster with a greyed-out picture of a small sailboat riding this angry wave on the ocean. It struck me so deeply that I flipped to the back page of my notebook and started a page just for quotes to inspire that teenage me.**3
Upon reading this prompt and starting to put my thoughts together, this quote immediately came to mind. What beliefs do I hold that others might consider to be an impossibility?
Age is just a number.
Although this adage is popular to share, it's not focused upon with the intent I believe it deserves. It's tossed out by individuals who appear to have allowed their age to take hold of their lives and mandate their actions, and wish a quick go-to quote to make them appear less concerned than they really are.
In my world, age is a number. It isn't a definition. I label myself biologically as a twenty-four year old. Consciously I'm in my early thirties. Subconsciously I'm around eight. The numbers are inconsequential - what matters is what I do with them. I work hard, and achieve. I unwind with Disney movies after running through my accounts. My age doesn't dictate what I wear, what I do or who I am.
The spirit of Santa Claus is real.
At Christmastime, religious folk start discussing "miracles." A woman with three kids and no job receives an anonymous donation of gifts for her children. An orphaned child finds a forever home. A stray dog is reunited with its owner.
Although it's wonderful to consider that a supreme being is looking down and orchestrating these actions, it feels more realistic to me to consider that there's a spark inside each of us that really is the "Spirit of the Season." A Santa Claus on the inside, of sorts, who leads people to make kinder decisions and pay closer attention to the world and the people around them.
Humans, like pit bulls, are innately good.
The other day, I stumbled across a quote from more than twenty years ago by a much younger Denis Leary that really struck me:
"Racism isn't born, folks. It's taught. I have a two year old son. You know what he hates? Naps! End of list."
This is absolutely, 110% true. Children must be taught that skin color, religion, gender or socioeconomic status is a basis for regard of another human. They don't know how to judge their fellow individuals any more than they know how to tie their shoes when they're dropped onto the planet. Hatred is a decision, and it's always an option to say "No, I choose kindness."
Today, it will be impossible for me to sprout wings and fly away. It will be impossible for me to kiss my Daddy's forehead. It will be impossible for me to give birth to a yak.
Just about everything else I can dream... I can do.
Just about everything.
**1 I told Boyfriend of Amazingness earlier this week that my brain was so busy it had started to leak out of my ear. He said "Hmm...," rolled over and fell back to sleep. He was obviously so perturbed that he couldn't bear the thought and put it straight out of his mind.
**2 I'm actually quite enjoying them. Don't judge.
**3 Also inspiring to teenage me: Disney movies and Tim McGraw. I was a teensy bit impressionable, and I didn't seem to care where the impression came from.
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