Vampires are all the rage these days. I don’t know what it is but America seems to be captivated by all things vampire including things like The Twilight Saga, HBO’s series True Blood, CW’s series The Vampire Diaries and the 2012 release of Underworld Awakening. The vampires portrayed in the aforementioned modern adaptations all maintain their existence in the same fashion of their predecessors; they feed off of the blood of their prey.
Vampires in Your Midst
In a similar way that traditional vampires stay alive, many adults feed off of children in the same way. I refer to the adults who suck the life out of children as the “Dream Vampires”. I am convinced that all children including those who are born with a physical or mental impediment dream of becoming something or someone of significance. If this was not the case, how do we explain the existence of people who come from a meager background and those who battle great hardships to go on to reach heights that no one could have ever anticipated?
How do we explain the never ending list of unassuming people who went on to do the unthinkable? The list is much too long but it would include the likes of people such as Anne Frank, LeBron James, Steve Jobs, Venus & Serena Williams, Ray Croc, Ronaldinho, President Barak Obama, Wayne Rooney, and Former President William Jefferson Clinton.
All You Need is a Little Bit of Luck
How did these people succeed when others didn’t? Were they lucky? Yes, of course they were. However, the better question is what exactly is luck? Is luck some mystical occurrence which happens by chance alone? I don’t believe so. I believe luck is as was best defined by the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca when he said “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
In order to experience luck, a person has to have an opportunity which in fairness may have some association with chance or a dependency or interdependency on another. The second prong of luck, however, preparation can be accomplished without a dependency or interdependency on another. Preparation most often occurs when as the elders in my community frequently say, “When you are sick and tired of being sick and tired”.
Unfortunately for many of our children today, they give up on life and stop dreaming because they have crossed the unenviable path of a Dream Vampire. These Dream Vampires do all they can – sometimes intentionally and other times unintentionally – to suck the dreams and hopes out of children.
Without dreams and hope, children are deprived of ever experiencing the true meaning of luck. These Dream Vampires appear to us during the day as teachers, coaches, guidance counselors, principals, politicians and more. In most cases, these “life suckers” are easy to spot.
Stay tuned and I will tell you how to detect them, why they behave as they do and more importantly how to defeat them. In the meantime, tell any and every child that you come in contact with that they can do and be anything that they want to do and be. All they need is a little bit of luck.
What do you think? Share your thoughts and experiences below.
I love this.. “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” I pledge to help every child I can with the preparation.