“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
This quote from the famous deaf and blind civil rights
activist Helen Keller prominently adorns the wall behind the check-in counter
at my local gym (Gainesville Health & Fitness). It is obviously meant to convey an exhortational message
that inspires the members as they come in to work out. That being what it is, I’m not
very clear as to the meaning of this statement or its practical viability.
It is one thing for someone like Helen Keller to have boldly
lived her life the way she did, fighting presumptions and prejudices against
the handicapped…who doesn’t admire her for that…but was it always a “daring
adventure”? What if I were to only
esteem what in my life constituted a “daring adventure” and regarded everything
else as “nothing”? You see, I probably
have a long way to go before I fully understand Helen Keller’s statement…
I can see how dreaming something that seems out-of-the-box
for oneself, like starting a brand new business, drastically changing one’s
material existence, or moving to a completely different type of environment
would seem like a daring adventure…it doesn’t take sky-diving or bungie-jumping
to fulfull that definition. But in
implementing such adventures, there is a great deal of hard, tedious work
involved that can at times makes one wonder where the “daring” and “adventure”
is. For example, I know a local
entrepreneur with his own prosperous business here in Gainesville. He has clearly stepped out in a bold if not
daring way to independently pursue his economic dreams, and I bet when he
envisioned it he saw it as a kind of adventure.
But I happened to step into this individual’s office the other day and
was taken aback at the enormous complexity of what he was doing, with lists
upon lists of clients and tasks spread out before him. His dream of
successfully having his own independent business may have seemed like a daring
adventure in its conception, but the actual day-to-day fulfillment of it
involves an enormous amount of routine and attention to details that can easily
obscure the initial sense of excitement at such an undertaking. In fact, just about every “daring adventure”
necessitates a lot of planning, preparation, and maintenance…it’s important, I
guess, then, to keep reiterating your dreams to yourself in the face of this in
order to avoid a feeling of entrapment in a boring, tedious existence.
The main problem I have with Helen Keller's quote is that is is an all-or-nothing, either/or proposition. To have daring adventures is largely a subjective call, with each person having his or her own perspective on the matter. But I've seen too many people during my lifetime who seem to expect others to make life interesting for them...that they are somehow entitled to be entertained and stimulated every moment of their existence. The common complaint I hear from people like this is "I'm bored." If you're such a person, who thinks that your life is meaningless unless you're continually being treated to an "adventure" that excites you, and that the burden of responsibility is on others to meet this need for you, then (1) you are probably, deep down inside, a very boring, unimaginative person and (2) I really, truly don't want anything to do with you...
But perhaps I’m looking at this all wrong. Maybe, and probably the only way it would work for me, though, is to find an overriding theme for life such that living that theme out with integrity would as a whole constitute a “daring adventure”. The “nothing” of the quote would be the result of living an aimless existence devoid of goals or challenges. But here one person’s “nothing” could be another’s “daring adventure”…
The main problem I have with Helen Keller's quote is that is is an all-or-nothing, either/or proposition. To have daring adventures is largely a subjective call, with each person having his or her own perspective on the matter. But I've seen too many people during my lifetime who seem to expect others to make life interesting for them...that they are somehow entitled to be entertained and stimulated every moment of their existence. The common complaint I hear from people like this is "I'm bored." If you're such a person, who thinks that your life is meaningless unless you're continually being treated to an "adventure" that excites you, and that the burden of responsibility is on others to meet this need for you, then (1) you are probably, deep down inside, a very boring, unimaginative person and (2) I really, truly don't want anything to do with you...
But perhaps I’m looking at this all wrong. Maybe, and probably the only way it would work for me, though, is to find an overriding theme for life such that living that theme out with integrity would as a whole constitute a “daring adventure”. The “nothing” of the quote would be the result of living an aimless existence devoid of goals or challenges. But here one person’s “nothing” could be another’s “daring adventure”…
