My
father spoke those words tonight, not five minutes ago after we hung up
the phone. For the uninitiated, he was referencing the outcome of this
past weekend's Iron Bowl when my beloved Auburn Tigers made perhaps the
most incredible play in the history of collegiate sports to defeat The
University of Alabama in one of the wildest games in recent memory.
Behold the glory below and I dare you to disagree.
The Play
The Aftermath
Regardless
of your affiliation with collegiate sports, everyone can appreciate
that it is simply an amazing play and one that has flooded my home state
of Alabama with tears of both sorrow and joy (depending on your team
loyalties of course). My father referenced this play and the
consequences of its outcome for a very specific reason. You see, I
planned on calling him this evening with the news that I had been laid
off from my job, an unfortunate routine that I have become accustomed to
after once again finding myself employed at yet another dismal company.
I thought that today would be my last day, I truly did, that the pink
slip would arrive and my familiar seat in the unemployment line would
still be warm from my last sojourn there. But I didn't get laid off
today, not at all. In fact, my employer has instead chosen to fire my
boss and promote me to his position, a decision that was not only
unexpected but also unwelcomed. I do not want my boss's job, I never
have. And what's more, I don't want to spend another second living a
life that (despite being the author of its creation) feels so very alien
to me. It is a life bound to the demands of corporate America where the
soul of man is ripped from his body to leave but an empty husk behind,
and the joy of creation is sacrificed to the gods of mediocrity for yet
another meaningless dollar. I do not want this...I do not want this at
all.
Instead
I want to create. I want to use my words to inspire readers with some
measure of passion that filled the seats of Jordan-Hare on that November
night as the cheers from a hundred thousand soaring voices rose like
smoke into the cold air and set the sky aflame. I want it more than
anything and, what's more, I am finally prepared to make the sacrifices
to attain it. I must become a writer, for all other paths lead only to
despair.
One
play, one glorious, unbelievable, and perhaps even predestined play
changed that young man's life forever and with it launched him into the
annals of lore and legend. It was a single moment in his life like so
many others, yet its consequences will be far reaching and profound. A
single misstep, the decision to cut right instead of left or hesitate
just a second longer would have cost him his chance at immortality and
with it doomed the hopes of every Auburn fan who watched the impossible
unfold. Life is always like that. The choices we make each day cast
waves of chance and fortune far into the future, through years that we
cannot yet imagine and with people we have not yet met. After years of
quiet reflection coupled with moments of sheer exuberance in discovering
my one true passion, I finally understand what I must do with my life
and why I am called to do it. So I will tell my stories, just as I am
doing now, and I will write them only for you, just as I always
have....and perhaps in doing so I may finally find the peace that so
many of us seek, but which so few ever find.
