My dearest readers,
in terms of finishing, of closing and, thus, a sense of
closure, I am utterly happy to write this post from nowhere less than where it,
idiomatically, started. About two years ago my good friend Gina Gomez had—by
showing me her blog—inspired and encouraged me to write mine and to share my
perception of creating and managing opportunity, and success, with you; and
this weekend I managed to visit her and decided that there would be no better
place, or time, than here and now to write this, especially after sharing my
poem “No Dream Deferred” at the P.O.P.
Open Mic in Madison, Wisconsin; a poem I wrote as a response, and an
enhancement, to Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem” which, nearly two years ago,
built the foundation for this blog. Therefore I was happy, astonished, and
really amused to have two moments occur so close together that both are
directly connected to why and how I wrote and am still writing this
blog. This one is, therefore, on closing the circle and seeing oneself at a
latter stage.
When you begin your journey you have no idea, whatsoever,
where it may take you, the only thing that drives you is the mere belief that
it is going somewhere you desire to go. It is your heart, your perseverance,
your passion that keep you on course, that makes you overcome burden and pain,
that makes you go on, and push forward, that makes you endure, and eventually
finish. When I began my journey, i.e. the one of writing this blog, I started
with only a belief, and I had no idea where it would take me, but it had been
the same internal entities to make me proceed, to make me endure, and
persevere, and go on; the same heart, the same passion that fulfilled me and
gave me confidence to follow through with it...and here I am now, with the
person that inspired me to do it, having recently shared my poem as an homage
to Mr. Hughes, one of the most inspiring figures in my life that—as I can
say now—formed this blog with me, helped me to frame it, to give me the initial
thought of how I should handle and manage it. And I can tell you something: it
is overwhelming to be at this point now and seeing a circle close, finding
myself in the idiomatic and ideological realm of where/when/how it all started,
for now I see the progress, and find affirmation, confirmation that the path I
took was the right one. All you, who began their journey with nothing but a
belief, and with the heart and the passion to endure, and to finish, are just
doing the same, and soon you will
find yourself in front of a closing circle, when the world, and a pleasing
nostalgia tells you that it was nothing but right to do what you’ve done. Never
be discouraged on your path, for it takes only two things to make something out
of it, a belief and perseverance; nothing less created success ever in the
history of men, and nothing to that will ever change—in the history of man.
BELIEVE and PERSEVERE!
I want to conclude this post with some inspiring lines by playwright
and scholar Ayasha Tripp, whom I—thank God—happened to meet and work with
during my time at the University of Wisconsin. She writes in her poem
“Ambitious Artist” as follows:
It’s about
perfecting yourself at your art
and
learning how to cultivate those dreams!
So when you
step back into the real world,
you know
how to make sure your dreams
become your
reality.
And I know
I do not stand alone.
Because I
am speaking out to all those
ambitious
individuals in life
who are
driven by their passion
and their
need to obtain to their goal.
This,
is for the
people who don’t see things
for how
they are
but instead
for how
they could be.
This,
is for the
people who were never
content
with doing the same!
This,
is for the
people who already
knew about
the slogan for change
way before
Obama came into play.
This,
is for the
people who were told
that it
couldn’t
that it
shouldn’t
and hell,
that it
probably wouldn’t it!
But in the
end, it did!
Because
they knew it would
happen from
the start.
This,
is for the
people
who never
let anyone or anything
stop them
from bringing forth the vision
that was placed
inside their heart.
This,
is for the
people
who don’t
just reach for the stars,
instead
they get aggressive and grab them!
This,
is for the
people
whose
religion is hard work and discipline.
This,
is for the people
who are
living on a strict diet
of pure
ambition.
This is when the circle closes. Thank you, inspiration and
inspirational figures, and thank you, readers...because this is not for me:
