Inspiration from an unusual source

I want to expand on my previous ‘Life lessons from the man on the street’ post. And I want you to really listen to what this post says.

While I was at the ‘Word Off The Street’ event on Sunday, I was lucky enough to hear from a guy who’s been heavily involved with The Challenge and St. Mungo’s, and I was blown away by what he had to say. This guy is called ‘Lenny’.

‘Lenny’ is a guy about my age, and he’s also been homeless before, but now he’s working with St. Mungo’s charity and one of his hobbies/skills/pursuits involves writing (outrageously) good poetry…so for me, as a fellow wordsmith, this was obviously an immediate attention hook. But this isn’t specifically about Lenny’s skills...well it is and it isn’t – it’s not just about his writing ability (which far outweighs my own), it’s about his skill, his ability, his magical capacity to bring life to life through words.

While he was up on stage, he read a poem of his to a theatre of 80 teenagers – no easy feat, let me tell you – and in his poem, he raised a very interesting point, and one that I want to share with you now. He said:

“I’ve heard pride is a sin, and patience quoted as a virtue…

but which of those is more likely to hurt, as you sit there still

while the world passes by you…?”

This landed like a hammer blow. I concede that pride, when dealt in over-sized portions can ruin a man (and women too), but surely patience can sink the best of us as well. Think about any of the greats – think of anyone you look up to; did they sit there, getting stoned, twiddling their thumbs and letting greatness unfold around them? No. They ante’d up, threw down and went and got it!

Now think about that. Figure out what you want, and don’t be patient in the hope it’ll swing on by your way eventually. Go and get it. For the love of all that’s good and pure – go and ****** get it! Remember what one of the greatest greats of all time said: “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans” – so get going and make life happen instead of planning what else you could do…and who knows – maybe you could end up being one of those ‘greats’ who went and got what they wanted!

Just a thought…