Are you letting your dream die?

I want to share something I read recently, It was written by Charles Garfield who shared a powerful story of a man who wouldn't let his circumstances stop him from living his passion:

"One day I was driving from my home in Northern California to the San Francisco airport, consumed with the talk I was flying to give. I found myself in early morning rush hour traffic and then a real Manhattan-style traffic jam. I wasn't going anywhere. All of a sudden I heard loud rock music. I looked up and couldn't believe what I saw - the toll taker I was approaching was dancing! I said, 'Please, Lord, not this morning. It's not a time for one of your tests.'

"Anyway, I got to the toll booth and gave him my dollar. He gave me my change with a backhanded slap, moving in time with his music. Now, I can't go through life pretending that these amazing things are not happening. So I asked the toll taker a standard, in-depth research question, 'What are you doing?' He said, 'I'm having a party.' I said, 'What about the rest of these people?' He said, 'They're not invited.'

"I thought, 'This guy is either nuts, or he's going to teach you something.' I couldn't find out then, but I made a mental note to find him again. A month later I did. It was during the middle of the day, so there was no traffic, and he was still dancing, the music was still blaring. He insisted he was having a party.

"I told him that I studied high achievers for a living and that I needed a certain kind of story. He said, 'You want to study me - great, take me to dinner.' After dinner, I asked him what kept him going. I explained the concept of mission. He said, 'You want to know my mission? I'm going to be a dancer someday. With what they pay me in that toll booth, I can't afford dance lessons. So I have the same two choices every other person has. I can let my dream die or I can dance in the toll booth.'

"Now here is the key issue. There are 16 other people just like him, with the same job - no special privileges - members of what I call the 'bitch and moan' school. These are the people who say, 'Oh, it's miserable. My boss won't let me do it. The organization won't let me do it. My parents didn't let me do it. The school system ruined me.' Yet one guy has managed to see a different world and a different set of possibilities.

"He was saying to all of us, 'I can let my dream die, or I can make it work anyway.' Peak performers are people who will make it work anyway. When everybody else is complaining or talking about the obstacles, peak performers will make it work anyway."

*An excerpt from Charles Garfield, Noetic Sciences Review 6 (Spring 1988) 19-20.