DO YOU LIVE IN THE REAL WORLD?

Have you ever been told that you “don’t live in the real world?” And what real world would that be exactly? Is it the one in which weekends come too slowly and work is annoying? Is it the one in which high school leads to college which leads to job which leads to fulfillment? Or is the real world the one where you get married and all your problems go away? Better still, maybe the real world is the one where certain people do big things and people like you and I are relegated to the small because well…everyone can’t be great.

The more I was told to “Get Real” as a kid the more I asked what the command meant. If you dream of a career in the arts, athletics or politics is anything more required than an effort that fits the aspiration? You wanna go pro? Prepare like one. That’s the fictitious world in which I live. Since when do the statistics justify aborting a dream, a global project, a quest to impact? Tennis Great Andre Agassi grew up hating tennis as his dad forced the sport onto him and yet now raises millions of dollars for impoverished youth in Las Vegas. The sport that stole much of his vitality has afforded him great wealth to accompany his heart for doing philanthropy (a word that literally means “love of people”).

Are we programmed to be worker bees? Where does such indoctrination begin? Why is survival still the end all be all in America, one of the wealthiest and youngest nations on the planet? Are we pretending that we need only gas up, motor to work and comply with the drill thinking that if we do, the real world we call the fake will disappear? How convenient. If only this were true. The fact is that while we buy, sell, entertain, inebriate and abuse in our “real world,” the real real world is being lost. The sunsets, the relationships, the service to humanity, etc. is being mistaken for get-your-head-out-of-the-clouds living. The only problem is that perhaps this is intentional and not a mistake and this begs the question: are you going to fall for it? You have a son or daughter, homework, rent to pay, team rules by which to abide, a job with myriad demands and here I am saying you’re not doing enough. Nah…I”m saying you’re not BEING enough. If greatness is serving, and it is, then the real world we’ve been told about is anything but real. The real world is filled with passion, compassion and awe. The real world is more than a place but rather self-awareness. It’s knowing who you are and offering that true selfless identity to the community in which you live. Death to drudgery. Mushu said in Mulan, “I LIVE.” What’s so hard about that?