I Believe in the Impossible

I believe in the impossible.

When I was three years old, I believed I could ride my wheeled horse down the basement steps. Predictably, I broke my horse and broke open my chin. It was impossible, but I believed I could do it.

As a boy I thought Superman was cool, but I really wanted to be the Green Lantern. Imagine, being charged with safety of a whole planet! Of course it was impossible, but I believed.

The teenage me dreamed of being on stage and playing new wave hits to packing out stadiums. Of course, I would write and perform it all, and everyone would want to hear it. Take a back seat, Reality, I’m going to be a star!

So when I was a young man and the very tall and very loud doctor came in and said “It’s baaaack” – and he meant my cancer — I knew living through it was impossible. Still I believed.

Impossible isn’t an absolute, and it’s not a shoe commercial. Impossible is an opportunity to grow beyond what I am now and into what I will become.

Trust someone again after my divorce — impossible. Go out and find yet another new job — impossible. Raise children who are decent people — perhaps more than impossible.

It’s not that I always have the right attitude. Usually I can’t see the light because my own demons get in the way. But somehow, I persist.

It turns out you don’t have to be a superhero to do the impossible, you just have to keep on going.

Am I going to live to be 100? Not likely. Will I ever be out of debt? Not if you look at it logically. Will my dream of going to Africa ever become a reality? Not a chance. But I believe in all of these things.

So the next time I’m looking at the impossible, which seems to happen more and more lately, I’m going to pull out this essay and remind myself that life itself is impossible. Yet it is.

Thanks for listening, and I’ll take my glowing green ring now.