I know I often write about following your dream and thinking positively. And I will continue to write about that from time. So this post might seem to be a contradict all that. However, I’ve been ruminating about this for a while now and then I watched an episode of ‘So You Think You Can Dance‘ and I knew I had to write this.
In this particular episode of the show, one of the contestants who clearly had two left feet, was naturally rejected. As he left, he said, “I’ll be back next year and beat the pants off everyone!” And I thought to myself, “The guy has no rhythm, no sense of timing and yet he’s aspiring to take part in and win a dance competition. Is that called being positive or is it plain stupidity?”
Can Turtles Fly?
I thought of the many people I’ve been encountering in the recent past who clearly are not cut out for a particular job or skill and yet want to invest themselves in following that. There was this person who doesn’t have the faintest idea of running a particular business, but wants to give up his current job (which he is ideally suited for), invest money and employ a lot of other people too. As I probed I realized that he was heading for disaster if he followed his decision. And when I said that to him, I was seen as being negative.
Another acquaintance when asked what her son planned to do when he left school said: “He could be a very good doctor or an engineer. And he would even make a good lawyer.” As it happens the boy is a very talented musician, but with the ‘guidance’ of his parents has taken up medicine…..One dissatisfied medical professional coming up!!
I came across a great story that goes with my thoughts.
A determined little turtle once climbed a tree. He somehow made it to the first branch. Then he jumped into the air waving his front legs and crashed to the ground.
After a while he slowly climbed the tree again. And again he jumped. This time he flapped all four of his limbs, but still plummeted to the hard ground.
The persistent turtle tried again and again with the same results.
A couple of birds perched on a branch nearby watched his futile efforts.
One of them turned to her mate and said, “Dear, don’t you think it’s time to tell him he’s adopted?”
There are simply some things we cannot do. Turtles can’t fly.
This was a great post. I wish everyone was free to pursue the career(s) that best suited them. The world would be a better place if that were so.
I Loved this post! And the idea of Monday Musings. I’ll try to join in next week.
As a teacher, I have to juggle encouragement with a do we of reality… ultimately the turtle has to discover for himself that he needs a more realistic objective!
Words of wisdom. Thanks for sharing such thoughtful posts dear Corinne.
Ha!Ha!I lovely that story, Corinne.
And I love the last line, “Dear, don’t you think it’s time to tell him he’s adopted?”
Yes, more often than not people forget to chase their passion due to personal or familia pressures, or just the way life turns out to be. It’s sad.
I’m so glad I switched to my calling a few years back.
Turtles surely can’t fly, I can . 🙂
Your posts are always food for thought. Thank you.
That ‘adopted’ line cracked me up. I understand the story of the kid pursuing medicine while he is good in music. Does he know he is good in music? Of course his parents know there is no scope for music as a serious career while medicine, engineering and law are traditional and safe choices. After all they might have had fixed it up when their son was born – ‘mera beta doctor banega.’ Many of us here have been that turtle who have tried hard and harder to fly, failing in the long run and then retreating into our turtle shells. I am in a shell but of a different kind, still.
You make an excellent point. One definitely doesn’t want a disgruntled doctor who would have rather made a fabulous musicians. So many of my friends were talented in art or games or cooking, yet they gave it up to study engineering, and later on took a different profession as they felt engineering jobs weren’t cut out for them. I guess along with parental pressure comes financial security, as many want the latter as soon as possible.
I hope that after a few tries the turtle would stop trying to fly and start working on its natural talent. Sometimes turtles do get pushed to fly instead of walk, as in the case of that kid. Thought provoking, Corinne. 🙂
Every time I hear about a child whose career has been “planned wisely” by his parents, I shudder to think what that child will have to go through to fulfil his parent’s desires. How many lives get ruined because someone else decides the kids’ dreams, instead of allowing kids to follow their own!
That is the conundrum, isn’t it? At a time when the messaging everywhere is to follow your dream and passion, and to make it a career even, no one talks about how your passion may always just be a hobby, or maybe even something that you admire from afar.
The priorities in our society are all topsy turvy.
Great post and this one brings me to the principle of soaring with strengths and not chasing what’s our weakness. That line about being adopted make me giggle. 🙂