Flada Blog

I just StumbledUpon a blog entry that I had to share with my readers.

How to Walk Through Steel-Reinforced Walls and Achieve other Similarly Impossible Feats is one of the my favorite entries I’ve ever accidentally found through StumbleUpon. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of other great blog entries that I’ve enjoyed and would call my favorites (like almost all of Steve Olson’s or Wendy Piersall’s entries), it’s just that I didn’t Stumbleupon them.

In the linked entry, Dan writes about a conversation with a child who was trying to walk through a wall ala Harry Potter. He gives several points of advice to child. Walking through walls is, of course, a metaphor for accomplishing any difficult task. Or is it? Sure, currently we don’t have the technology to walk through walls, but I couldn’t help but think of the car that drove through walls thanks to its Oscillation Overthruster in the film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai.

Anyway, the point of the entry is that if you have some natural talent, make a strong commitment to succeed, and don’t give up, ultimately you’ll be able to build an Oscillation Overthruster or something similar, and walk through a wall.

I’ve often lamented that there are so many naysayers that try to prevent you from achievement pretty much from the first day you open your eyes and take your first breath. What fantasy occupation did you want to have and how many times did you hear that “you’d better have a backup plan”? How many times have you heard the saying, “don’t quit your day job”. Dan calls these people Dude Yamaha’s, and has another entry to explain why.

The only point I question is his first, which states: make sure you are born to walk through walls. This gets to the whole nature vs. nurture debate, and I contend that many people have accomplished things that they may not have been “born to accomplish.” However, this is a simple difference of opinion and certainly doesn’t detract from an outstanding writing.