Tortoises and Hills
/Twenty years now
Where'd they go?
Twenty years
I don't know
Sit and I wonder sometimes
Where they've gone
And sometimes late at night
When I'm bathed in the firelight
The moon comes callin' a ghostly white
And I recall
I recall -Bob Seger
Goals without execution are just dreams; everyone has dreams, anyone can be a dreamer. But, not everyone reaches their goals, and that is because they fail to execute. The execution is the hard part. Its easier to slide down that hill, to take the easy way out, but it asks more of us when we must bear the load and trudge up that hill. It is even harder when we look to the right and see many looking for the escape hatch to the slide leading down into the lush meadows below. Do not mind those people, turn your head forward, stay focused on the hill. If we wish to see what is on the other side of the mountain we must climb; we must climb to find the good stuff, the transformative treasures. Life is too short to take the slide; no one ever learned something about themselves from taking the slide. If it doesn't hurt, if it doesn't make your bones ache, your lungs burn, your mind struggle, then it's not worth it. Easy is a four letter word, easy is for those who have given up. One has a choice, either go lie in the meadows below, staring into the heavens while pondering the dreams and wishes of a life unlived, or get up and climb. One must suffer, one must execute. One will endure pain in life, it is inevitable, and so if that is the case then we can choose our pains and execute, trudge, climb, and claw at them.
"In any given moment we have two options, to step forward into growth, or to step back into safety." - Abraham Maslow
It seems I am a tortoise when it comes to the things in life that matter to me. I would rather slowly suck the marrow out of the good stuff than gulp It down. No one makes a cup of coffee last longer than me, not even Henry Rollins. It has been four years now. Still blue belted, more than content, purple somewhere on the horizon, yet not a care in the world. Purple is just another color, its the lessons and journey that matter more. Some would say I should be further along by now after four years, and they would not be wrong. But, belts and colors are just things, and things do not matter. What matters most are the laughs, the lessons and the family tied and tucked under the belt. There can be contentment that comes with being the slow train with unwavering momentum, slow enough to take in the scenery of the journey, rather than being a rocket moving so fast that the views are a blur. Consider treating the big stuff like a marathon; endure and outlast the masses. Execute. Endure. Wear them down. Be relentless and persistent. Be the tortoise, not the hare. After all, the hare has a short life, and few memories; tortoises live a century, and take it all in. Be the tortoise.
I will be 50 in a few months here in 2017. Fifty.
Fifty years now
Where'd they go?
Fifty years
I don't know
Sit and I wonder sometimes
Where they've gone
And sometimes late at night
When I'm bathed in the firelight
The moon comes callin' a ghostly white
And I recall
I recall
We are nothing without brotherhood. Thank you to ALL my brothers, for sharing and teaching and caring about me, and my journey. But, more importantly, thank you for the love, laughs, stories and memories. They will endure, and I will recall.
- Shawn
*pictured: Prof. Carlos Lemos Jr., me, Prof. Joao Filipe Jerry Oliveira, Prof. Carlos Lopez . . . and the many others, you know who you are. . . . I send gratitude.
Gracie Barra Downers Grove, Jiu Jitsu for Everyone.
