When incidents happen like last Friday’s shooting, we as a society always focus first and foremost on the negatives like the hows and whys, shouting endless, tired diatribes about gun control, violence, and social triggers from all points along the socio-political spectrum as we nitpick at the various elements involved. While the anger is an understandable step in the coping process, these behaviors only serve to further fracture and separate us rather than bring us together when it is needed most.
But if one takes a step back to look objectively at it we see that for every dark page in mankind’s history there are entire chapters of achievement that serve as testament to our drive and determination to better ourselves and the lives of each other. These are the times when we have chosen to look past our differences to invent or participate in events that improve our experiences as we share in the human condition.
I was recently informed by a longtime friend that she was writing a memoire about the people who have inspired her throughout the course of her life; she had contacted me to ask permission to use my name in connection with certain incidents. At first I was rather shocked, then humbled.
Every once in a while I am told how something I did or said brought a smile to someone’s day providing a lasting and comforting memory or how something I wrote was read at the right time to touch someone’s life in a positive and profound way.
As a writer that is the greatest achievement I could receive, but as a man I often feel unworthy of such praise because I don’t think of myself as particularly inspirational. That had me thinking about what it means to inspire and be inspired; and those who have personally inspired me in the course of my own life.
It was with a saddening and sobering thought that I realized that we rarely recognize or talk about those who inspire us until they are gone, which brought up fresh memories of the tribute I wrote after the passing of literary icon Ray Bradbury and what it was like to meet him.
When I was a child I didn’t know any distinction in an astronaut being male or female; American or Russian; it was just an amazing job and my mind swirled with daydreams of visiting far-off worlds. Those childhood memories became very penetrating this week upon the news that Sally Ride had passed on, becoming once again part of the universe she so courageously explored. As the first American woman in space she was instrumental in showing us that anyone had the potential to be anything they wished to be as she, literally, reached for the stars.
We also lost actor Sherman Hemsley, the son of a single mother who worked long hours in a factory in order to help pay for his acting lessons. That investment was well spent because he would go on to play one of the most iconic roles in television history that, through the magic of comedy, was a stark and candid look at just how silly racial discrimination was and still is.
Three men died in the Colorado shooting because they chose to shield their wives and girlfriends with their own bodies as the bullets flew; another, who survived, shielded a stranger and her young child.
These individuals are what personify inspiration to me because they serve as prime examples of what we all can be if we only chose to look beyond ourselves when it matters most and the rewards of enduring hard work to achieve our dreams.
Greatness is not a condition of birth or social status nor is it something that is freely given to us; it is something earned and the result of the choices that we all can make with our thoughts and through our actions each day.
The dark times will continue to happen with or without warning, but we each have a choice in how we let it influence our lives. We can either wallow in the emotions becoming fearful or bitter, or we can use those emotions to motivate us into initiating the changes we so desperately desire to see in the world.
Tomorrow is a new day. The Sun will rise, bringing light to the darkness and giving us yet another chance to grow and change. The possibilities provided are as varied as the points along the horizon and limited only in how high or far we are willing to fly.
©2012 R. Wolf Baldassarro/
Deep Forest Productions
