If I can do it, anyone can do it...

I know that a lot of the inspiration for my blog posts comes from TV, but I'm really not a huge TV junkie. At least not in the traditional sense. I do have my shows that I follow, but mostly online, allowing me to spread me TV watching throughout the week. Anyways, enough about that.

Really what I want to talk about is something from a commercial. It was for one of those technical colleges. The poor, struggling father turned his life around by obtaining an education. A heartwarming 30 second story for sure. As a sign off and a promise, the man says, "If I can do it, anyone can do it."

While in the confines of this commercial, this optimistic statement may work. In the broader sense of the human experience, this statement is a bold faced lie. On some level, it took me a really long time to understand that just because I could do something, doesn't mean somebody else can. My extended family still tells the story of how, at a family reunion, I took a bag of tootsie rolls and proceeded to sculpt little dinosaurs out of the pliable chocolate deliciousness. I thought it was no big deal. Sculpting a dinosaur out of pretty much anything has always come naturally to me. Because the process was so easy for me, I just assumed that everyone would find it equally easy. The fact of the matter is, not everybody can grab a bag of candy and turn it into a scene from the Jurassic Period. Dare I say, few people can. It wasn't until much later that I realized this fact. There are several things that I can do that not many people can.

This whole concept seemed to crystallize when my younger brother started attending college in the town next to where I was attending college. He is majoring in Theater Education or Technical Theater, or some combination of the two. Anyway, one day when we were driving, it dawned on me that he probably knew as much about theater as I knew about geology. Suddenly, a college became and incredible place. Everybody there knows so much about their chosen field of study. It really boggles the mind. My roommate, Scott, knows more about first aid and human anatomy than I will probably learn in ten lifetimes. It is incredible to me that there are so many people who know so much.

Simply put, just because Zach can stage manage a play and Scott can save the life of a bleeding bike accident victim certainly doesn't mean that I can. But I doubt that they could snag a couple tootsie rolls and turn them into a T-Rex.

Grandma's internet connection is still keeping me down, so no pictures yet. I'm still working on it.