Untitled (Comment and give me a title)

After staring at my title bar for about 5 minutes, I decided on no title. I know. It is pretty hipster of me and non-conformist. Actually, I am going to post a hilarious comic strip my wife, Alex, sent me today.

Well played, hipster dude.

So, try to read this blog entry while trying not to look at the comic strip. Did it work? Dang it! I'll continue below.




















I went for a run after work, although my foot has been bothering me. A pain develops on the side of my foot and spreads to the ball of the foot, up to the ankle. It was bothering me since Saturday, however, it wasn't hurting me today.

So, I put on my totally rad red shorts and my Litigation Assistants softball t-shirt from my work at Levin Papantonio Law Firm. I swiftly made my way to the track but the thought of my hurt foot put some doubt in my mind.

Almost instantly, the pain entered into my mind. Now, this isn't just a bruise type of pain. It feels like a stress fracture with pain shooting through my foot when my foot makes contact with the ground. It causes me to hop on one foot to a place to sit.

Why am I talking about my hurt foot and running? Well, it is not for health advice, however, do run if you are able to. I guess, since this is my blog; I am writing to myself. In turn, of course, you, the reader can learn from it. I learned tonight that real pain and real tribulation awaits me when I am attempting to complete a goal. It can slow you down and even keep you from attaining your highest potential.

One of my favorite poets, Alfred Lord Tennyson, said this, "I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair." So, before me are two roads. Robert Frost wrote those famous lines about two roads and how he chose the one "less traveled." One side is fear along with pain, trouble, and failure that accompanies accomplishing goals. Even to run, is a daily goal. And of course, you have the bigger goals like becoming a Senator, which is one of mine. On the other side, you have the road that leads us to "wither and despair." This road has heavy traffic and has the many footsteps of those who choose the easy way in life. The easy way for me would be not to accomplish my goals of becoming an attorney, businessman, politician, non-profit owner, and so on. The easy way would be me to ponder on the pain that I will endure on that run through life. Furthermore, I could go sit down watch my favorite TV show and get up in the morning working the "safe" job from 9 to 5 and never rising, only staying stagnant.

Wow, this is turning out to be quite the journal entry. More quotes, you say? Here you go. The great Mark Twain said,

“There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.”

The second group also travels down the other road that Frost bravely chose not to traverse down. He also warned us not to either. Twain in his genius and sharp wit with a sense of appropriate humor really left a treasure map for us to follow with quotes such as these. You want to experience life? And I am proposing this question to myself. Then accomplish things, don't just claim.

My favorite Novelist is Eric Arthur Blair, aka, George Orwell. He wrote a wonderful novel that I have in my book collection, Homage to Catalonia. This is a true account of the Spanish Civil War and his involvement in it. He puts forth a wonderful example of accepting inevitable pain, hardship, and failure and to just accomplish your goal. He traveled to Spain during the Spanish Civil War as a journalist. It was dangerous and definitely not very profitable. However, it was a goal of his to get in the midst of this unique and important conflict in history that was the matinee to the theater of World War II.

This book served as one of the most valuable historical works on the Spanish Civil War. He accomplished to write a book that greatly informs us of the inner workings and the true meaning behind the war. His accomplishment does not end there, however. He also wrote a blue print for you the reader and me. A blue print that we must follow to go reach your goal and take it head on.

This is my actual copy. 

I am holding the book and have turned to page four. Orwell said,

"I had come to Spain with some notion of writing newspaper articles, but I had joined the militia almost immediately, because at that time and in that atmosphere it seemed the only conceivable thing to do." 

The conceivable thing to do, is what is in your heart in relations to your goal. Just like the boy who wanted to be a soldier. Just like the little girl that wanted to be a veterinarian.  Those two goals were my brother's and sister's. Correction, my brother wanted to be a Marine and did. My sister did enter the medical field, however only for humans not animals.

Orwell amazingly got involved in the war not just with a pen and paper but with a gun and a belief in joining a fight. Did he know that pain was coming? Did he know that he could just leave and go somewhere else, maybe to his home country of England? The answers are yes. I know that pain and the overall fear wraps, as my wife says in her poem, its "slimy hands" around me every day. But I and you must accomplish our goals in despite of, in order to not, as Tennyson put it, "wither in despair."