Craig’s next prophetic comment was, “Even though you think it can’t be done, it may be that you just haven’t figured out how to do it. With computers, we’re always discovering things we can do.” Claiming something couldn’t be done might mean setting myself up to have my credibility reduced when a student would, indeed, show me it could be done.
Many weekends were spent with my computer like a student cramming for a final exam. I learned things I didn’t know in order to teach them, sometimes to people who had been using it for months. I suddenly had to become the expert. I had to find out how things could be done.
Often students asked how you did this or that. I heeded Craig’s advice. Not once did I say something couldn’t be done. Usually I said that I would get back to them and rush to the coffee room during a break to see if my colleagues knew. Sometimes I would simply say that I didn’t know, but would contact them if I ever found out.
Teaching computer courses made me realize that I don’t know everything. There is always something new to discover. It also taught me to search for ways to do something rather than sit back and claim it can’t be done.
History is filled with stories of people who did things when others were sceptical.
People said it was impossible to create a flying machine. Many tried and failed. The Wright brothers did it.
My mother told me we would never get to the moon. Jules Verne envisioned this more than a century before, even picking Florida as the launch site when it was nothing more than a swamp. We all know what happened.
In hockey, there was a time when it was assumed that a defenseman would never score 20 goals or more per season. I guess nobody told Bobby Orr.
On and on it goes. There are many more examples.
But here’s a point I want to make. In life you will meet many who feel their role is to shoot down your balloons. Usually with great authority and feigning wisdom, they will tell you why and how things can’t be done, just like the “experts” gave advice to the Wright brothers.
I usually don’t need this advice. Often, I already know how things can’t be done. I wish they would spend their energies and talents figuring out how things could be done instead. My history with these types is that they usually spend most of their lives tearing things down and building very little. There is a lot of talk and little action.
Sure, reality says there are things I can’t do. I can’t walk through a brick wall. However, in the Town’s long-range plan you will see an idea about Elton John buying
the Opera House and restoring it to its original splendour. Yep, that’s my little dream. My personal vision goes much deeper than this, but that’s for another time. Impossible? Some may believe so. I don’t.
Maybe you have dreams. Come share them with me. Maybe I can help. There are many imaginative, positive and innovative people in St. Marys who may be able to help you, too. But don’t give up on your dreams just because others think they can’t happen. They can!
Some of my favourite people are the Hope for Haiti group. Their enthusiasm, dedication and optimism are infectious. Haiti is a country where there might be cause for little hope, but that doesn’t stop them. Wonderful!
George Bernard Shaw in his play, The Serpent, wrote: “You see things as they are and ask, ‘Why?’ I dream things as they never were and ask, ‘Why not?’" From the same play comes: “Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire; you will what you imagine; and at last you create what you will.”
Pretty powerful words, but I still like Craig’s simple words. “Don’t ever tell them it can’t be done.”
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