What An Inspiration!

After listening to President Obama's "Back to School" speech yesterday I started thinking about some of the things he said. My mind travels very quickly sometimes and my train of thought went from what the President said to people that are proof of how those words are true. When the President said, "Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is." I thought of many people that like to do things that they consider a hobby or maybe something they do to destress. Art came to mind, I used to (what other people call doodling) sketch or draw when I needed to let my mind rest or cleanse itself.

Then I thought of many different people when he said, "Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team."

One of those that came to mind as I pondered on his speech could have easily never been heard of, never developed thier talent and never changed the world as they have today.

My train of thought took me to the same person when I heard him say, "Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, 'I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.' These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time." Even though the President mention two very good examples I had a different one come to mind. The person that I thought of was born over a hundred years ago, but many of us know well of them and enjoy the fruits of thier labor. This person's father moved from Canada to California in 1878 looking for gold, little did this man know that his child would later create a "gold mine" of opportunities in the same state. He was in Florida when he married in 1884, no one knew of the dreams that would later come true in that state. This couple made a family home in the farmlands of Missouri in the early 1900's where one of their children developed a love for drawing. As a freshman in high school this young student took night classes at the Chicago Art Institute to better develop thier skills. After being rejected by the army this young man joined up with another local artist to start thier own buisiness as commercial artists, which failed to stay afloat. Then he started an animation business which later went bankrupt. In the late 1920's he fell victim to production and contract conflicts which caused him to loose most all his employees to Universal Pictures as well as his successfull trademark, Oswald-the lucky rabbit. It would have been easy for him to call it quits after this failure. But he did not. Just as President Obama mentioned, "you can't let your failures define you-you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you differently what to do next time." This man went back to the drawing board, literally. He remember a pet mouse he had adopted back in Kansas City while working late nights in the studio. From this creation came an opportunity to use what he had learned to fulfill his destiny. From this simple drawing he built an empire. He won 59 Academy Awards and 26 Oscars as well as 7 Emmy Awards. One of his most famous quotes is, "I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."
I am of course referring to Walt Disney.