Not quite 5 Essential Lessons yet. But something…

We are all, everyone one of us making history now.
The time for sitting on the fence is over. The time for greatness is now. Each of you has a role to play, your only choice is whether you accept it or have it thrust upon you…

I know it’s tempting to think that we can hold on to the past, everything that’s safe and easy. But we cannot. And safe and easy are what set us on the path to catastrophe in the first place. The chains of comfort are what keep us from reaching for a better world.

– Wrath of Graham

It’s just the first episode of the new season of the 4400 and already I love it.  I like it because it echoes a lot of my current world view.  And, I think, it’s one of the few sci fi shows that really looks at the world around us in it’s own metaphor and conveys a message of hope rather than the cynicism of, say, Battlestar Gallactica.  It says things are bad, but we can make them better; if we’re not afraid to be uncomfortable, to take some risks and be willing change ourselves.

The biggest problem is, we like to be comfortable. 

The chains of comfort are what keep us from reaching for a greater world.

This reminds me of something someone once told me: The quality of your life is directly proportionate to the amount of instability you can tolerate.  The greater degree we can manage to live in uncertainty, the more risks we’re willing to take, the more we’re willing to be open to change, even if it’s sudden.

Sometimes it’s terrifying because it’s unknown.  It’s why we’re scared of the dark – we don’t like what we can’t see, including the future.  So we keep creating a future we can see – tomorrow that looks just like today; is familiar and comfortable.

But the rewards may be worth the sacrifice of comfort. 

All of us have a destiny and either you can accept it or have it thrust upon you.

If only this were true.  I believe we each do have a destiny.  Either you can accept it or let it fall by the wayside unfulfilled.  It echoes Bagger Vance – “…you’re game, the game you were created to play and only you can play it.”  If you choose not to it goes unfulfilled – is a dream stillborn.

What were you created to do?