In his latest motion picture The Soloist, Jamie Fox plays a homeless man struck down by an act of life…deeply sickened by a mental disorder, his passion for music continues in a way that heightens an unexplained passion to lift music from four strings.
Visibly connected to Beethoven, Nathaniel Ayers spiritually caresses his awareness for song while leaving untouched the assumed presentation of a grocery cart pushing wanderer lost somewhere between thick and thin only to ask Robert Downey Jr. “Who do you see when you write?”
Who do you see? Do you see your father who aimlessly shoved hard work and dedication into his career which provided your mother with love and security? Do you see a minister, local leader, an actor, musician or grandparent’s ambition?
When you are being you…who do you see? Do you evolve into a thought created being? Have you ever put energy in discovering the origin of the rooting system of desire turned reality?
The writer in me isn’t Julia Cameron, John C Maxwell or my mentor in life Dr. Ronald Mack from Wake Forest University. I am Lewis and Clark or English explorer John Lawson who vowed to never let a Hurricane in 1600’s Charleston shape walls across paths that required a name and location. Each plant was nothing more than a new personality, rather than take its life he allowed things to grow.
Writing each morning before sunrise teaches the imagination to reach beyond the witnessed horizon.
Who do you see when you evolve into the positions you’ve acquired? The banking industry was once overrun by Hugh McColl sharp dressed suits while the auto industry bathed in the longevity of Lee Iacocca’s compelling Mustang idolisms. Thursday night Karaoke singers might grasp at the chance of reeling in a Simon Cowell standing ovation while Chefs whip up madness over Paul Dean or Gordon Ramsey.
Speaking at Johnson and Wales University yesterday, I elected not to lecture but rather fork out a few bars of fun while playing a simple game called, “Who the heck are you and why are you here?” I share the same way I learn. No day passes that I don’t sharply, harshly and unlimitedly ask myself the same question. Like the Jamie Fox character, our daily lives are filled with a constant voice that refuses to sleep, rest or do anything but put speed on the tires leading us up, down and around a mountain pass.
I wasn’t shocked to receive, “I don’t know why I’m here.”
Rather than become a disgruntled guest speaker, I find tremendous inspiration when gifted with such truthfulness. To walk out into a world with no image to hold or a hot fire to put steam in your steps doesn’t make you a quitter, slower learner or ambitionless career builder…instantly I’m fed the vision of an explorer.
Anyone can stand below a mountain and call it a giant hill with funky rocks and billions of trees. Half will climb a quarter of the way up while one tenth of the breathless travelers are driven to a colorful ring only they see or a piece of music that seems to be floating. They will teach themselves to sit next to a once flooded river bank whose scent still carries a deathly fishiness not easily wiped from their face, body or fingerprint. Three, maybe four will look close enough to notice the remnants of a long lost spiraling wave and how it sketched into the banks a shapeless cavern big enough to fit a dream. Thinking they’ve reached the pivotal part of the journey there will be shouting, wild kegger parties and loads and loads of BBQ chicken wings and things.
Only one of the barely prepared mountain climbers will touch the center of the colorful ring while attempting to pour from the lyrics of everyday challenges a song to sing. Out loud it will be shared, echoing between trees and more trees. Giant skunks hidden beneath leaps of rocks will stop to stare and wow look at the size of that bear! What bear? Look at its T-shirt! It reads, “I am your future.” Nice!
Sadly, the world of corporate big business and its avenues of success have created a hairy beary situation. What do we naturally do when confronted by bears in the woods? Run or play dead. Enough said.
Who do you see when you dream?
Nathaniel Ayers assumes the role of Beethoven while closely slow dancing with his stringed instruments. His eyes and body flow with a rhythm unstoppably sought then reflected making each passerby nothing more than a witness to a cause only he holds then quickly rushes to set free from fingertips flooded with emotion, turning a field of poison ivy into a garden with a single.
Anyone can be a radio jock. It requires no talent or gift of performance. Those who make it have discovered the art of listening. They’ve chosen to stare at the bark peeling from a tree while studying the woodpeckers feeding instinct, devouring insects beneath what only the naked eye can see only to notice the holes left behind create just enough space for Swallows and other smaller birds to sleep warm tonight.
While standing at the front of the class at Johnson and Wales it took no time for someone to say, “The economy is bad…do we really have a future to grasp?” I love this stuff! More truthfulness!
The cream is rising to the top. Billions of dollars have been spent on research that didn’t work and or couldn’t predict the layout of the current roles CEO’s and decision makers have assumed. Research means money had to be forked out for someone to think for them. Today is your day to put a face on your dreams and think for yourself. Corporate America failed…not the little people who kept it going daily. The amount of competition that awaits the rebirth of brilliant ideas is going to generate a future worth climbing…get to the top and teach those not so daring how to shove aside a tree branch that which reveals a tiny rock strong enough to hold your weight…then lift!
Once achieved, let your dreams breathe and don’t be so quick to sell it off…Home Depot and Lowes are nothing more than a neighborhood hardware and fix it shop just like your grandpa had all those unwritten pages ago…they are the same store that happens to be on your corner, your uncles corner, your former friend from works corner and Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory corner because the Ump Lumpa’s needed to be let go to keep costs down.
Who do you see?
Steal my art…
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
No comments:
Post a Comment