As many parents prepare to send their children back to school, I felt a burning compulsion to say something in particular to parents and adults. Instead of focusing on getting children prepared to go back to school, I believe it is time that parents consider going back to school ourselves.
Let me clarify, I am not advocating that you take a class or enroll in college or university unless of course, you had plans to do so already. What I am advocating is that parents’ pursue continuing education in the meaning of life. Parents and adults need to go back to school to educate and re-educate ourselves about what the purpose of life is truly about, what it means to be a human being and what civilization requires from us for society to advance.
Parents Just Don’t Understand
Our collective thinking and the outcomes of our thinking signals parents and adults whose understanding of life, humanity and civilization has simply become debilitating and far too limiting.
Take for example that rarely do we encourage dreaming, acknowledge the value of life experiences, recognize the power & importance of failure, recommend following passion over pretentious professional validation, stress our interconnectedness with every living creature nor nurture the individual creative genius that dwells – too often dormant – inside of all children. Rather, we encourage and expect all our children to be square pegs that must fit in round holes. Graduate from high school, enroll in college, get a degree in something (most often stating that the major is secondary to getting a degree) and earn a living.
For those children who perform exceptionally well in high school and on standardized test, we believe they deserve a better fate than the “average” performing students. These AP curriculum and Honor class taking students are encouraged to enroll in degree programs that society considers the most respected. Degree programs such as law, medicine, engineering and business. Degree programs that often serve merely as elements of artificial personal validation and pretend job security.
We push our children towards these degree choices often for all the wrong reasons. We push them to become a doctor because they enjoy science and math. We push them to become a lawyer because they enjoy literature and debate. We push them into business because they are good at math and accounting.
13 Going on 30
However, we don’t consider that the child that we are inspiring to become a doctor cares nothing about taking care of people or promoting medicine which is forward thinking, preventative and universal. We encourage a child to become a lawyer who dreams of being a partner of a law firm by age 30 and only cares about personal rights and freedoms once billable hours are satisfied or a hefty retainer is included. We encourage children to be ethical business leaders despite historical evidence that they possess little to no interest in doing anything other than earning a buck by any means necessary.
Whatever happened to realizing that education was not simply about grades and degrees but about being intellectually and morally competent? Whatever happened to education being more than a qualifier for a “good job” and social standing but about being a critical thinker and a contributing member of society?
I’ll tell you what happened we – you and me – happened. We have previously and now continue to mess things up for our children and the world. Our thinking and process of creating a future that is in our best interest is simply atrocious.
On Bended Knee
So today, as you help your child get ready for a new semester, I want to ask you a favor. I want you to join me in a collective effort to repair the damage we have done and continue to do to our children and to a larger extent the world.
Again, what I am asking is not just for me but I’m asking you on behalf of the planet. It’s true, the world needs you to be your best. Please begin today doing what most of us rarely if ever do. At this very moment, I would like to ask you if you would agree to be the best you that you can be.
When I say best, I mean amazing. We don’t need average. We don’t want better than your friends, co-workers, siblings, spouse, significant others or neighbors. Today, the universe is crying out for you to be exceptional.
Why be exceptional because exceptional parents raise extraordinary children? Why be exceptional because exceptional people inspire others to be brilliant? Why be exceptional because what could be better than spending this moment – the only moment that is guaranteed – being excellent?
Ask yourself if today was your last day and you were now experiencing your last moments of life, would you want to be remembered as being remarkable or ordinary? Would your children consider you remarkable? Would anyone outside of your immediate family even know or care that you lived? If you are really as amazing as you believe yourself to be, doesn’t the word amazing itself demand that you do something astounding, astonishing and miraculous?
Wake Up!
You can be exceptional but you must stop being selfish, stop being scared, stop being content, stop being lazy, stop being delusional and you must stop waiting for someone else to come up with an ideal or solution to improve the world. Even if you foresee your contribution being small, the universe reverberates harmoniously and progresses positively when you give your best.
You may have heard me say this before but I believe it bears repeating, “Someone somewhere in this world of over 7 billion people is counting on you every day to be exceptional”. You may never be introduced to that person or persons nor even be aware that they are taking notice but your behavior could be the beginning of a chain of events that put things in motion so that the world can be changed. The profound choice you have is whether your behavior will be exceptional, ordinary or destructive.
Today, I – actually not me – but the world needs you to step out of your limiting comfort zone and leap into your limitless potential.
I know that amazing lies within you and me. Remarkable resides in all of us. Let’s make today the first day that we decide to never again shirk from the challenge of being exceptional choosing rather to just be average or worse – just do enough to get by.
I believe you were put on this planet at this exact time in history to do one thing – Change The World. Unless, you believe the world is perfect as it is, shouldn’t you be doing something to make it better? And if you realize the world could be better and you won’t do anything to change it, shame on you! If not you, then who?
What will you do today to change the world? Do those who you love and respect believe that you are living to your full exceptional potential?
This was timely.
I desire to offer something great to the world. My goal is to
combat the widening wealth disparity. I tell myself, I
have a purpose that is bigger than me, and every second I don’t walk in my
purpose someone, somewhere is negatively impacted. Each day I pray for
stronger faith. I pray that I’m released from the shackles of fear, which
keep me from moving forward. I recently heard this quote, and I keep
rewinding it in my head. “Fear is not real! The only place fear can exist
is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination causing us
to fear things that do not – at present – and may not ever exist. That is near
insanity! Don’t misunderstand, danger is very real, but fear is a choice.
We are all telling ourselves a story; today, my story changed.” (Will
Smith: “After Earth”)