The Sky's the Limit!
A boy, quite close to his father, comes to him with a big question on his mind:
Son: Dad, I've been thinking about the term "the sky's the limit." Does it mean that we can do anything?
Father: Well, let's examine it together. Jump as high as you can in the air. (The boy jumps.) What did that tell you?
Son: Well, I can only jump so high.
Father: Can you go higher?
Son: No.
Father: But, what if I give you a ladder and you climbed to the peak of the house? Would you then be higher?
Son: Well, yes.
Father: Did you do it through your own effort?
Son: Yes. And if I had a mountain to climb I could go even higher!
Father: What would it take to go higher still?
Son: A plane.
Father: So, is there anything above that is holding you back?
Son: No, I just require the means. Like a ladder or a plane.
Father: What would it take for you to go, let's say to the moon?
Son: A rocket ship. And being an astronaut.
Father: Could you become an astronaut?Son: I don't know. I would have to study and be healthy and have the right experience and the right circumstances. The odds would be low, but it could happen.
Father: You stand here not as an astronaut and you have neither a ladder, a mountain, a plane or a rocket. Still, as we went through this, did you imagine yourself going onto the roof, up a mountain, in a plane and to the moon?
Son: I did.
Father: Do you see a place where even the sky is not the limit?
Son: Yes, Dad, I do. In my mind. I can go anywhere!
Father: I can see in your eyes that you are taking flight as we speak! To give your flight the depth of spirit I give you the poem High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.:
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air…
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew –
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
Father: As much as we learn to love the flight of ideas, thoughts and feelings, not all of our experience is meant to be without challenge and many there will be. Trust yourself, for the truth is resilient, ever emerging and within you.
And never has the difference between you and I been ore obvious - you go to Camus and I to the Beach Boys and the Beatles. And yet, we ended up in the same place. Gotta love blogging.
ReplyDeleteViva la superficial difference!
DeleteI beg to differ - nothing superficial about it - you are a much calmer, thoughtful person than I - I am direct and volatile
DeleteI never thought of that. Ironic. You seem direct, but not volatile. I love the way you just cut to the chase.
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ReplyDeleteLoved this, and High Flight takes me back so many years!
ReplyDeleteI loved that when we were kids! Last thing each night on the TV.
DeleteHow I wish that I had had a father like that when I was a boy. I did however have a mother to compensate who goaded me into doing things that I would not have done otherwise to make me into a person different to what I would have been but, more to her idea of what her first born should be. The point is that the inner voice is all very well but, an outside influence to mould raw clay into a finished work of art often makes all the difference.
ReplyDeleteAnd, that takes me back to our LBC days and this post where, due to space constraints, I have removed the comments but remember yours as being in awe! https://www.rummuser.com/ambition/
Your comment about the external agent molding the clay is spot on. It can be all the difference in the release of a child's potential.
DeleteAs usual, you've got an entirely different take on the topic than the other group members. Plenty of food for thought between yourself, Shackman and Ramana. Your point about Camus has me intrigued. I'll have to dig more deeply, I'm thinking.
ReplyDeleteAs you remember the idea behind the old LBC, posting simultaneously was our way of having a collection of original takes to share views and ideas without the bias of reading another's take first. Then we would discuss. It is good to have you back in that mix.
DeleteVery beautifully put, indeed !!!
ReplyDeleteI particularly like such upbeat articles, which are suffused by good sense while not being positive in a hopelessly superficial manner.
Thank you so much and a hearty welcome to the group!
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