A Starship With No Fuel

Dear Highway Man,

You have been having a lot of trouble falling asleep lately and I think I know why. Somebody once told me there are two reasons why a person cannot fall asleep. They said it is either because you are getting too much undeserved credit or because you are less productive then you know you should be.

“So much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty and greed with all their tragic effects, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and laziness, which in the long run can have a more devastating effect.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

As you can tell it has been nearly a month since your last blog post. This is a giant red flag telling me that I have been way to unproductive and far to lazy. I am living in Korea teaching English and in the 17 hours a day when I am not at school it is my hope that I am taking part in activities that when I look back on my life will have been the steps I took in pursuing my dreams as a writer, filmmaker, photographer and lover. So I stand now realizing the options that life has set before me to either to take my future by the reigns or to go with the flow.

You have two options when facing this new crossroad. One road will lead you to continue living the way you have lived for the greater portion of your life, which for the majority is a semi productive lifestyle with no real fruit and not real purpose. On the other side there is a small dusty path with no road signs and no promises. This road starts when you are willing to say “enough is enough,” and instead of going through the same motions you and everyone else around your seems to be caught up in and you see where you could be going if you were living with life with a purpose.

At this point I have to ask you, are you the person you want to be? Are you fully dedicated to the things in your life that will cause you to end up where you want to see yourself in the future?

No your not, but your not alone either most people if they are being honest will answer not much differently. You need to I find yourself reading more, writing more, and getting more active and creative while pursuing the only faithful lover in your life. Unfortunately I do not find you doing these things that I wish you were doing because you have become too distracted entertaining the common lifestyle of the day, which leads you nowhere close to where I want to go. But to recognize this is nothing special, you can find that most people are able to see that they too are far from the person they dreamt they would be as a child. So what is stopping so many people from living how they wish they were living if it is indeed who they want to be? Partially I blame you and I for this.

The way I see it, we find ourselves living below our desires because deep inside we are acting out of fear. Fear of losing the acceptance that acting the same as everyone else offers, the acceptance that is freely given in living the same way, having the same passions, and being involved in the same fruitless lifestyles that leads to a mediocre life of suburbia. I know that if you are willing to take the initial steps toward the true callings that you are drawn to, whether

it is traveling the world, starting a production company, publishing a book, or if it just means reading more, praying more, learning a new language, anything even as simple as blogging that if you can do it with passion then you surly will see everyone around you feel the freedom to pursue their own goals as well.

You need to go back and remember the words of Travis Garland a classmate and friend of yours from the 7^th grade who told you he was, “either going to be extremely rich or homeless one day, but I am not going to settle for middle class.” Now those words could either speak of wisdom or foolishness but for they describe a mentality of life I desire for you. As a kid Travis recognized that he wanted to live his life passionately and to it’s fullest without stopping or settling to be or live like anyone else. He wasn’t willing to sit in his house when he was older and regret not going for it, not following his desires until he ended up at the very top or the very bottom. He knew as a child that the only way to be satisfied with his life would be to give it everything he had, leaving no questions of what if on the table. It is there, at that mindset that one can truly say, “even if I end up at the lowest end of society I will be happy knowing I did my best at everything I faced.”

Some might say consider that to be a failed life, but Travis’s attitude has inspired me, and who knows how many other people he has or will encounter who might also have the chance to be infected with his same desire to give life everything they have. If just one of those people go on to do great things because of his tenacious life style then I know he could fall asleep under any bridge with a smile on his face knowing it was his lifestyle that inspired the next Martin Luther King Jr., or Abraham Lincoln, and quite possibly the next You. Mahatma Gandhi said that you should, "be the change you want to see in the world."You can be the future; you are catalyst everyone around you needs to be inspired to stop walking around dull and unproductive, but instead vigorous with their deepest desires relentlessly knocking at their heart unwilling to be silent any longer.

Like anything else in life it is easier said then done which is why most people don’t live in such a way. Walt Disney said, “if you can dream it you can do it.” Be the exception; wake your spirit up from the slumber and ease of laziness. You can and will fulfill your dreams; you just have to start living like you believe it.

Sincerely,

The Highway Man