Rivenrock Gardens Cactus Blog

Follow your dreams

    Follow your dreams, and work toward them with diligence and intelligence.
    Someday when you’re old and live in your mind, you will regret the dreams you never tried for, more than for the dreams you tried for that never made actualization.

    We watched ‘Racing Stripes’ tonight. It is a truly delightful movie about a zebra who aspires to be a Kentucky Derby Racer. The movie is made charming by all the animals that are anthropomorphized through digital effects and voice-over’s by well known stars.
    This movie is a characteristic Disney production in that it ignores reality, and shows the depths of life’s possibilities through extreme characterizations.
    But it also shows the realities of life in that what we aspire to accomplish, we can usually attain through perseverance, training, and proper preparation. And we should never let the nay Sayers stop us from our quest: to attain the highest level of excellence we can in whatever our chosen field may be.
    It is also such a special movie, that only the most hardened and bitter would not have tears at some time during the showing of this movie. And they would not be the ones to watch it anyway.
    The talking animals, from the singing jive-talking flies, the humble goat, the racing-technique smart but physically inadequate Shetland Pony, the gangster Pelican from New Jersey, and more all conspire together to help their zebra buddy realize his dream: to be a Kentucky Derby winner. And together, they all do it, and win the top honors.

    I’ve known people of all stripes (no pun intended) in my life, and the saddest ones were the ones who never had a dream, something high and lofty to reach for. To dream, is to reach far. But not to dream, that is a real sadness. Perhaps in some ways, dreams are more real than reality. For from the ether of dreams can come the reality of a fulfilling life.

    Don’t give up on your dreams, don’t give up on your life!

    Persistence is needed in life, and if you think you’ve had it hard on your clawing way to the top, think about what President Abraham Lincoln went through. We all have huge amounts of power in us, it is bred from all these generations of living through the adversities of life, and we can make it! But you can’t stop.

   The last e-mail I got from a good friend, just a few days before he died in a vehicle accident was “follow your dreams”.  And he was a fellow who worked hard and diligently for his dreams, he was in the process of selling his two homes in California and moving onto acreage in another state… he was driving to that new home when the accident happened. He was only a half year from retirement.  He got religion just weeks before the accident, and I’m glad he did. God Bless you Jay.

~Desiderata~
‘Max Ehrmann’

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.