There are always people along the road of your life who will tell you that you "can't" do something.
You can't become a musician, you can't major in fiction writing, you can't take a break from college, you can't quit your job and travel the country, you can't move away from your family, you can't take that job in Europe, you can't... can't... can't...
...and what these people mean by "can't" is that you will fail if you do these things; the odds are against you.
To those who say "can't," I pose this question: What have you ever done with your life that makes you an expert on what can or can't be achieved in life and what is or is not a success or failure to someone?
Most of the people who tell others they "can't" do something or they will fail if they try, have a small frame of reference from which they view the world... they work the job they hate and 'raise' the kids they had at often too young of an age, and see the entire world and how it relates to them from the perspective of their own backyard.
...and nothing else is normal or ok or right or doable in their mind.
Fear drives these people-- fear of change, fear of failure, fear of loss, fear of success; Jealousy drives these people-- jealousy that someone they know will succeed or do something interesting while they continue on their short-sighted backyard journey.
I have seen people do something they were told they "can't" do and make it to the top of their journey on the first attempt.
I have seen people who believe in what they want to do "fail" upon their first attempt, and sometimes their second attempt and sometimes their third and fourth and so on until they got to where they want to be.
I have seen people fail at what they want to do and be brought through it to something even greater and better than they ever imagined.
I have seen people fail and put their tail between their legs and go back to what they knew before the failure with a better view on where they came from and a new driving force.
...but i have never once known anyone that failed and would take it back; I've never met anyone who regretted the journey...
...the only regrets I have ever heard from anyone, are regrets for the chances they chose not to take...
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I would much rather have regrets about not doing what people said, than regretting not doing what my heart led me to and wondering what life had been like if I'd just been myself.
~Brittany Renée
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Monday, November 24, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
...and history is made...
I wish V were here tonight. She was so involved in politics... She would be so proud tonight. I wish she were here. I wish.
I cried when the announcement was made tonight. I won't say that I am a staunch Democrat or that I was even a huge Obama supporter, although I am liberal and I do think Obama is an intelligent man.
I cried because during Obama's first run for Senate I was dating a political consultant for his campaign and he told me I needed to meet "this guy" because he was being groomed for the Presidency. I remember laughing and saying, "Pffft, maybe in 20 years..." because I honestly believed that the people in our country, the people in small towns and in white suburbs, and those conservative western states, would never elect a black man as president. They just weren't ready.
I laughed.
So little faith I had...
...that was in 2003...
....and now, just a few years later, I have witnessed history. The first African-American president. Amazing. I was alive to witness history... not the negative history I witnessed on September 11th, but positive history that the children I someday have will read about in school books.
Today I voted for change....
...and tonight I witnessed history.
And for the first time in a long time, I am proud of the people of my country for looking past color and seeing the merits of a President.
---------------------------------------------
"Young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled — Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America."
I cried when the announcement was made tonight. I won't say that I am a staunch Democrat or that I was even a huge Obama supporter, although I am liberal and I do think Obama is an intelligent man.
I cried because during Obama's first run for Senate I was dating a political consultant for his campaign and he told me I needed to meet "this guy" because he was being groomed for the Presidency. I remember laughing and saying, "Pffft, maybe in 20 years..." because I honestly believed that the people in our country, the people in small towns and in white suburbs, and those conservative western states, would never elect a black man as president. They just weren't ready.
I laughed.
So little faith I had...
...that was in 2003...
....and now, just a few years later, I have witnessed history. The first African-American president. Amazing. I was alive to witness history... not the negative history I witnessed on September 11th, but positive history that the children I someday have will read about in school books.
Today I voted for change....
...and tonight I witnessed history.
And for the first time in a long time, I am proud of the people of my country for looking past color and seeing the merits of a President.
---------------------------------------------
"Young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled — Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America."
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