The Right Angle

My favorite movie of all time is Dead Poets Society. If you’ve watched it, and if you really listen to the message, it is a message of change and progression, for if not we stagnate and die. Really, some of the quotes are so powerful, and the example of leadership played by the main teacher “Mr. Keating” (as portrayed by actor Robin Williams) is truly unique and absolutely remarkable. I’ll take this post into two parts, again, not to dilute the lesson it’s trying to convey.

Today I want to write about what I learned again from watching the movie AGAIN (probably for the nth time). Really, Mr. Keating’s message is one of hope and aspiration. His work is centered around reaching the young minds of his students and implanting them with a desire to succeed, but to be unique in being themselves. One of my favorite quotes is right in the beginning when he says, “You’re in a battle, gentleman, for your hearts and souls!”

That perfectly describes our journey through this life! It’s a battle to keep true to who we are…so very deep inside. A battle that if lost, we will lose our beings to the traps of mediocrity and non-achievement. Very powerful if you think about how we’ve been doing in “our” battle up until this point in time.

One of the most famous scenes in the first half of the movie is when Mr. Keating stands up on his desk, and then encourages his students to all take a turn doing the same. His point is to help them see the world from a different angle, give them a different perspective. He encourages this as a way of gaining new insight and revolutionary ideas in solving life’s challenges and discovering grand opportunities. I asked myself yesterday, “how often do I look at things from new angles?” Surprisingly we stay stuck in the same mental rut as we always have been, yet expect things to change! (That is the definition of insanity, by the way) Albert Einstein said, “You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.” Now if that’s not one of the most brilliant things ever spoken, I don’t know what is.

That quote is exactly what Mr. Keating was doing on his desk. By standing up there, you can view the world in a different scene and be on a different level. When we are faced with challenges, whether they be personal, family, or business related, the best way out of them is to look for new angles. Look for a new opening. Look for the opportunity.

Basically, stop focusing on the damn problem! The more we talk about the sorrows we have, the more we speak of the insurmountable obstacles we face, well, then, the more we have those situations come into our life. So let’s implore together to stand on a desk today (figuratively speaking, but if you’re inclined to actually do so, be my guest.

Let’s look at the way life is going FROM A TOTALLY NEW PERSPECTIVE. What are the possibilities ahead? What are the goals we want to achieve? What is the ideal target? Then let us put our undivided focus upon that end result. Minute by minute, until we have come to our planted destination. Worth a shot? Right?

MAY YOU SORE TO NEW HEIGHTS TODAY!

Anyway | Mother Teresa

I don’t really know what I was really thinking about when the words of the poem Anyway started trickling into my mind. One thing led to another and being such a webaholic that I am, I thought I would share the poem with the larger audience out there, because really this poem is magically inspiring and uplifting of sorts.

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

- Mother Teresa’s Anyway Poem

Mother Teresa, was and still is the champion of peace, a force to recon with in her own divine right, she was always there for those that had no one else. Mother Teresa chose to call my country birth country, India, home. She stayed there serving the down trodden till the day she passed away. She once said that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love, which left me in awe. She was and has always been inspiration to me. Though people know a lot about her in terms of the public figure she was, there was another side to her, the poet. She occasionally dabbled in words and produced marvelous poetry. This poem is one such piece. This is one of my all time favorite pieces of poetry ever written. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.