Can You Imagine?
Can you imagine Christopher Columbus standing on the shore gazing out at the endless Atlantic Ocean? At the time, everyone believed the earth was flat, and if you sailed out far enough, you would drop off the edge into some kind of abyss. But Columbus had doubts about this theory, and it seemed a bit bizzare to him.
What would the edge of the world look like? Would it be one continuous waterfall with the sea spilling over the edge? Wouldn’t that drain the ocean? What if there was no edge? Then the water would stay where it is. He may have looked at the moon and saw how round it was. Maybe the earth was round, too. That idea sparked a dream in Columbus that would change the world forever.
The Dream Drives the Guts
Once he had that dream, a fire was lit in his soul, and the guts to pull it off were a just a byproduct. This brings up a vital point… the dream drives the guts. Without a vision to strive for, there is nothing to fight for. That same vision drove Joseph Loomis in my book, The Great Idea.
Dreams, Guts and Glory in The Great Idea
The Great Idea has plenty of dreams, guts and glory. Columbus had discovered the New World in 1492, but that world was still new and intimidating a hundred years later. England didn’t settle a colony until Jamestown in 1607, and later, Plymouth in 1620. These first settlers were intrepid pioneers, and their dreams and guts inspired thousands more to make the trip across the Atlantic. Joseph Loomis was one of them, and his dream of freedom gave him the guts to leave his known existence for an unknown land and take his wife and eight children with him.
See “7 Qualities of a Pioneer”
Dreams, Guts and Glory Today
Sadly, not all of us can discover the New World or fly around the moon, but dreams, guts and glory are still with us today. They are a part of the human makeup. Here are a few examples:
The Dream
The dream does not have to be earth-shaking, but it should be life changing for you. One day you read an article or see something on TV and you say, “That is really cool. I could do that.” You might be a factory worker and get the idea to be a paramedic, or look up in the sky and want to be a pilot. If you have the guts, your life will be completely different in five years.
The Guts
The guts are what it takes to achieve the dream. You have to fight for it. This usually entails activities you don’t want to do. Going back to school, getting certification, getting up early, moving to another city. It takes guts to get out of your comfort zone, but if your dream is strong enough, you will do whatever it takes… and you will not quit!
The Glory
I once had a t-shirt for black diamond slopes at a ski resort that said, “No Guts No Glory”. The glory in this case would simply be making it to the bottom without compound fractures. The glory in any endeavor is coming out on the other side, looking back and saying “I made it!.” There is nothing more satisfying than having a dream, applying the guts to get it, and realizing you are in a new world.