Inventing
Your Life
“Expectations”
By
Rob
Claudio
I was watching an animated movie not too long ago about a bull
named "Ferdinand" and was captivated by the heart felt story along
with its beautiful images. I laughed at many scenes, yet, most
importantly was mesmerized by the core story of how this bull was criticized
when he was young along with as an adult, for not wanting to behave like most
bulls. While his peers were captivated by the thought that they could
face a matador and achieve glory in a bull ring, Ferdinand, was perfectly happy
smelling the flowers as he preferred to take care of them with his nurturing
and kind demeanor. It is a great family film which I highly recommend and
what prompted me to write about it was that I kept telling others what a good
movie this was and someone finally told me that I should write about it in my
blog. Hence, here we are. I love that the many morals to this story
are such that there is a lesson for just about everyone in it. The
primary element of having a world which expects you to behave in a certain way
because of the stereotypical views of others at large is primary. When
you think about the topic of bullying, no pun intended, we have seen tragic
instances where very young people in real life were relentlessly tormented and
the culmination of unfortunate and sad endings associated with some of those
stories always breaks our heart. Therefore, I wondered out loud if
perhaps the examples of tales such as this one about this beautiful bull, could
help change the world with a more positive voice for those that feel
marginalized. For kids or adults to finally come to the realization of
what being unique and individualistic means along with a strong sense of self,
is ideally what the rest of the world should see as part of our humanity's
inclusion. This is when others expectations can become overwhelming for
some, who may not fit into what the world expects of them. Most
importantly, I believe that the world balances itself out by ensuring that a
variety of people along with their different strengths exist, in order to show
us that we need everyone to come together to help make us all better
people. Therefore, if we are to be the examples for the future of our
world, then we should begin by acting in such a way that our future generations
would feel proud of the work that we did during our lifetime. As one
celebrates the gifts and talents which our peers bring, we must also keep an
eye out for those who may not be as strong as us, as we need to help them when
needed to ensure that everyone feels a sense of belonging. Whether it is
the story of this bull or perhaps another narrative you know personally which
can enable a child or an adult come to the realization that everyone belongs,
is definitely more of what our world needs now. Our future generations will
hopefully be able to attest to the good that we were able to achieve via our
own personal contributions, if we start by being better examples for others to
follow now.
On a separate
note, I have to say that I received the news that our long-time editor of our
newsletter, Pat Thornton passed away, along with many of our members not too
long ago. As a result, this will be my first column since I began this
journey of writing many years ago, where I was not reminded by Pat about my
impending deadline or asking me if I have new ideas to share. I too will
miss Pat dearly as she was a dedicated member of our organization past and
present, who sought the best for all of us, while keeping us accountable for
our contributions along with service to others. Ms. Pat, I hope that you
are laughing joyfully while looking down on your family and friends as you
ensure that others are also doing their part in the eternal organization which
we will all be a part of some day. Rest in peace, Go U.C. Berkeley Bears
and God bless!!
“When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.”
― Donald Miller
