"A man's reach...."
I used to be sappy. Some would say I still am, but then, they haven't seen the slight degeneration I've underwent, for reasons that don't really exceed the realm of "habitual recreation". But, despite all that, I do still have a heart. And some things tend to get it beating again. One being reminders of lessons learned.
"A man's reach should be just beyond his grasp or else what are the heavens for"? It was a quote made by an english writer from the 1950's. I first heard it when I was about 8 years old. My older brother & I had just come back from watching a basketball game. Of course, it wasn't just a basketball game. It was an exhibition match of the Harlem GlobeTrotters, arguably one of the most exciting & entertaining teams in the history of the sport of basketball, who fused ballhandlin with comedy to make one of the most hilarious & skillful displays of the art of basketball ever. My dad, my brother & I saw them & it was like watching basketball being played the way god had intended it to be played. Anyways, when we got home, he told me he was gonna be just like them one day, playing ball just like 'em. When I laughed in his face about it, he opened a book he had gotten from the library and showed me where his teacher had highlighted it. Believe it or not, he scribbled it down somewhere for me & I hung on to it for quite a while without ever really noticing. 15 years to be exact. Amazing considering the constant moving my family & I have done since then. Hence, I'm surprised that I even found it intact. I've been thinking about that quote for a while now and until now, I had no idea what was the message behind it. So, I did the most (or least) logical thing to do, I consulted my brother. For those of you who aren't familiar with my brother, unique doesn't begin to descibe him. But sometimes, those who know him, really don't know him at all, including me. Beyond his eccentric personality & his need for complete freedom of expression, he is one of the most intelligent individuals around, except when it comes to how to......well, that list would need another blog. Back to the topic at hand, he told me that he had spent considerable time trying to understand that particular quote himself and he only came to one conclusion. " If you can reach it, you can touch it. If you can touch it, you can grab it. And if you can grab it, then grab it & never let it go". I really don't know what's more astonishing, the sheer simplicity of that statement or the fact that a self-professed "sikk dawg" (not a typo, but that's how he spells it) was able to explain it to a somewhat over-confident college graduate like myself. Regardless, I learned something from him, the same way I've been learning from him for over 28 years without even knowing it or appreciating him for it. If you really want something in life, then go for it, head first, without question. Because at the end of the day, the message is that every man's dream is within his grasp. All he has to do is simply reach for them.
(p.s. that is not to say that he was gender-biased because he always taught me that a woman is just as capable as any man. Also, she is just as capable of fucking up like any man)
Sure, this sounds like a message dug deep within some feel-good Disney flick, but who says its not true? Who says it can't happen? He'd probably say "why the f*** not"? So, I stand by him in posing that question......WHY THE FUCK NOT!?
Thankyou big brother.
"A man's reach should be just beyond his grasp or else what are the heavens for"? It was a quote made by an english writer from the 1950's. I first heard it when I was about 8 years old. My older brother & I had just come back from watching a basketball game. Of course, it wasn't just a basketball game. It was an exhibition match of the Harlem GlobeTrotters, arguably one of the most exciting & entertaining teams in the history of the sport of basketball, who fused ballhandlin with comedy to make one of the most hilarious & skillful displays of the art of basketball ever. My dad, my brother & I saw them & it was like watching basketball being played the way god had intended it to be played. Anyways, when we got home, he told me he was gonna be just like them one day, playing ball just like 'em. When I laughed in his face about it, he opened a book he had gotten from the library and showed me where his teacher had highlighted it. Believe it or not, he scribbled it down somewhere for me & I hung on to it for quite a while without ever really noticing. 15 years to be exact. Amazing considering the constant moving my family & I have done since then. Hence, I'm surprised that I even found it intact. I've been thinking about that quote for a while now and until now, I had no idea what was the message behind it. So, I did the most (or least) logical thing to do, I consulted my brother. For those of you who aren't familiar with my brother, unique doesn't begin to descibe him. But sometimes, those who know him, really don't know him at all, including me. Beyond his eccentric personality & his need for complete freedom of expression, he is one of the most intelligent individuals around, except when it comes to how to......well, that list would need another blog. Back to the topic at hand, he told me that he had spent considerable time trying to understand that particular quote himself and he only came to one conclusion. " If you can reach it, you can touch it. If you can touch it, you can grab it. And if you can grab it, then grab it & never let it go". I really don't know what's more astonishing, the sheer simplicity of that statement or the fact that a self-professed "sikk dawg" (not a typo, but that's how he spells it) was able to explain it to a somewhat over-confident college graduate like myself. Regardless, I learned something from him, the same way I've been learning from him for over 28 years without even knowing it or appreciating him for it. If you really want something in life, then go for it, head first, without question. Because at the end of the day, the message is that every man's dream is within his grasp. All he has to do is simply reach for them.
(p.s. that is not to say that he was gender-biased because he always taught me that a woman is just as capable as any man. Also, she is just as capable of fucking up like any man)
Sure, this sounds like a message dug deep within some feel-good Disney flick, but who says its not true? Who says it can't happen? He'd probably say "why the f*** not"? So, I stand by him in posing that question......WHY THE FUCK NOT!?
Thankyou big brother.
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