This is from the early part of the book. Enjoy. And comment please, feedback is always good.
“There’s our class.
Over there, they’re on the side.
Come on.”
Shannon
followed Dylan across the back of the auditorium and down the aisle. They were taking their seats as the curtain
came up and the music came on.
Soon a
person came out on to the stage and started talking. It was like a motivational pep talk kind of
speaker. The lights and the music and
the photo shots were interesting and half kept everyone’s attention, but they
really weren’t paying attention.
Suddenly
the speaker got very interesting.
“So,
now that you’re all deep in your day dreams of what happens next after high
school and you’re imagining all the possibilities, almost tasting them, I’d like
to give you an opportunity to reach right out and grab them.”
She
paused and looked around the room.
“Have I
got your attention yet?”
The
screens showed pictures of money. Stacks
and stacks of hundred dollar bills.
“Would
you like to have this kind of money to follow your dream after high
school? Would you like to have the money
that would buy the freedom to chase a dream?
With this kind of money a lot of things can simply be taken care of and
you can be all about the business of working hard toward accomplishing your
goal, of making your dream your reality.”
Now she
really did have the student’s attention.
Most of them were saying yes and sitting up a little straighter on their
spot of the bleachers.
She
went on, “Everyone is going to be in on this contest, everyone. It will not be easy, but nothing in life
worth having is easy to get. We’ve done
a little research and found that you all are far more likely to pursue a dream
and achieve greater success at it, if money is not a pressing worry in your
life. So what we’d like to do is make
that happen, for some of you. We’d like
to take the money worry out of your life for a brief period of time and let you
focus on nothing else but chasing that dream of catching your success.”
Students
were clapping. Some were cheering and
standing. Everyone was very
excited.
She
raised her voice over the crowd, “For now, I want you to dream. I want you to make plans and put them on
paper. Nothing makes a dream more real,
more concrete and more achievable, than putting it down on paper. Start planning out the steps to success in
your dream. Don’t let any worry or
obstacle that comes to mind get in your way.”
She
walked back and forth on the stage. The
students began to quiet down. As they
sat, she began speaking again, “Oh, my friends, I cannot encourage you strongly
enough to take my words seriously. Begin
taking hold of your dreams. Begin to
plot it all out. Allow yourself to dream
the biggest dreams you’ve ever had.
Taste in your mind the success you want, and be ready. Find all the details. Live it in your imagination.”
She
stopped in the center of the stage. The
music was suddenly gone. The screens
went black. She was standing in a single
spot light.
Quietly,
she said, “Soon, very soon, I will be back.
Right here on this very stage. I
will give you the instructions, the conditions, the rules if you will, of how
to earn your chance to chase your dream with less pressure and worry than your
peers.”
She
took a few steps to the left. The spot
light stayed on her. “Then I will be
back again, to check on your progress, to offer some help, some
inspiration. Then, before you can even
blink, I will be back to pass out the prizes.”
She walked slowly to the right, “My friends, this time will pass in the
blink of an eye. This year will be over
in a heartbeat. Seize it. Seize every minute of it. Live it out with intensity, with purpose, as
if your very future depended on it,” she walked back to center stage and very
quietly said, “Because,” and she looked out intently at them, “it does.”
In that
moment, the stage went black. It was
silent for a moment and then the house lights came up. The seniors sat in stunned silence. In a minute the bell rang and everyone was
off to second hour and as the day passed by the intensity of the assembly faded
for most, but not for all. In a matter
of days, some had completely forgotten about it. But others had taken it to heart. They turned it over in their minds just
before they drifted off to sleep. They
started to let themselves believe. Some
scratched out thoughts on scraps of paper and tucked them aside without even
really being aware they were doing so.
They gave life to their dreams.
Dreams that were just whispers were birthed into real live dreams with
weight.
No comments:
Post a Comment