A funny thing happened to me when I was in New York a few weeks ago. It was on the Saturday and we were enjoying the great conference we had been attending. In the afternoon during our 15 minute break I went out into the street to enjoy the great view of New York City.
It was a beautiful and sunny day. My friend Mike joined me outside. Off we went down the street to the building across the Madison Square Garden (I think it is the post office)
We then sat down on the stairs watching the crazy traffic in the streets of Manhattan. I started telling Mike how big a dream it was for me to just be standing outside the Madison Square Garden. This brought back memories of the sleepless nights at Kennedy’s place watching the NBA playoffs until 3 am due to time zone difference.
Then, just to relax, I decided to take my shoes off (I knew I had no holes in my socks lol). All of a sudden, Mike decided to do so. Before we knew it, another classmate joined us and did the same. Some other guy we didn’t know joined us and took off his shoes too (I guess I started a movement).
I looked at Mike, he looked at me, and we all laughed. Mike then told me: “See? You did that. You inspired all of us to do so”. It was so funny.
Fast forward. Just yesterday, I was thinking about what I should write about this week on my way home (yes, sometimes the inspiration can decide to go on vacation). Then I remembered my funny story with Mike in New York. I thought it would be a good story (at least for me).
The first thing that came to my mind was the movie Gandhi (a great movie by the way). There is a section in the movie where Gandhi decides to walk through the entire country mile after mile from coast to coast. No one knew why he was doing it but in every village he went through, people decided to join him. In a few days, it had become a movement. Not even the English people , in India, knew how to handle this.
When he reached the Indian Ocean, he went deep into the water and grabbed a handful of salt. He then said: “We have our own salt. Why do we have to import it from England” (I am paraphrasing here). From then on, Indian people started to use their own salt, negatively impacting the entire England salt industry. This was so inspiring.
When I got home, I thought I could start a movement too (why not). The more I thought about it the clearer it became. Here is the story.
When I went back home in 2008, I visited a number of friends. We had a great time. I shared with many of them what my life is like after spending 6 years in Canada (I told them it is a cold country, eh!).
One of my friends was inspired and told me about her dream. Then I got inspired (I am always inspired by people who have dreams so big that they don’t know how to fulfill them). After listening to her, I decided to give her a hand. I didn’t know how, but I knew I had to at least try. The funny thing is, by helping her, my dreams are coming to pass.
I kept in touch with her after I returned to Toronto. The more I talked to her, the more I liked her dream. In fact, it was like her dream became mine. All of a sudden, I started to think about it all the time.
One day I called her and said to her, “Let’s do this”. Let’s even put a deadline to it. But the thing is, I had no idea how we would do it. She had no clue either (but that is the beauty of it). Now we are almost at 90% towards achieving it. I can’t wait to see my friend achieve her dream.
For all you fans of the blog, I have two requests. Would you like to join me in making her dream come true? If yes, please let me know by sending me an e-mail at pbizindavyi6@gmail.com.
I will give you all the details about the dream and how we can do it together.
The second request is this: Find someone (it could be a friend or not), ask him/her about his/her dream and help him/her make it come true. By so doing, yours will come true as well.
Moral of the story? Do you want to make someone’s dream come true? Just go to New York City and you will take off your shoes.
Always a pleasure
Patrick
The Journeyman
pbizindavyi6@gmail.com
It was a beautiful and sunny day. My friend Mike joined me outside. Off we went down the street to the building across the Madison Square Garden (I think it is the post office)
We then sat down on the stairs watching the crazy traffic in the streets of Manhattan. I started telling Mike how big a dream it was for me to just be standing outside the Madison Square Garden. This brought back memories of the sleepless nights at Kennedy’s place watching the NBA playoffs until 3 am due to time zone difference.
Then, just to relax, I decided to take my shoes off (I knew I had no holes in my socks lol). All of a sudden, Mike decided to do so. Before we knew it, another classmate joined us and did the same. Some other guy we didn’t know joined us and took off his shoes too (I guess I started a movement).
I looked at Mike, he looked at me, and we all laughed. Mike then told me: “See? You did that. You inspired all of us to do so”. It was so funny.
Fast forward. Just yesterday, I was thinking about what I should write about this week on my way home (yes, sometimes the inspiration can decide to go on vacation). Then I remembered my funny story with Mike in New York. I thought it would be a good story (at least for me).
The first thing that came to my mind was the movie Gandhi (a great movie by the way). There is a section in the movie where Gandhi decides to walk through the entire country mile after mile from coast to coast. No one knew why he was doing it but in every village he went through, people decided to join him. In a few days, it had become a movement. Not even the English people , in India, knew how to handle this.
When he reached the Indian Ocean, he went deep into the water and grabbed a handful of salt. He then said: “We have our own salt. Why do we have to import it from England” (I am paraphrasing here). From then on, Indian people started to use their own salt, negatively impacting the entire England salt industry. This was so inspiring.
When I got home, I thought I could start a movement too (why not). The more I thought about it the clearer it became. Here is the story.
When I went back home in 2008, I visited a number of friends. We had a great time. I shared with many of them what my life is like after spending 6 years in Canada (I told them it is a cold country, eh!).
One of my friends was inspired and told me about her dream. Then I got inspired (I am always inspired by people who have dreams so big that they don’t know how to fulfill them). After listening to her, I decided to give her a hand. I didn’t know how, but I knew I had to at least try. The funny thing is, by helping her, my dreams are coming to pass.
I kept in touch with her after I returned to Toronto. The more I talked to her, the more I liked her dream. In fact, it was like her dream became mine. All of a sudden, I started to think about it all the time.
One day I called her and said to her, “Let’s do this”. Let’s even put a deadline to it. But the thing is, I had no idea how we would do it. She had no clue either (but that is the beauty of it). Now we are almost at 90% towards achieving it. I can’t wait to see my friend achieve her dream.
For all you fans of the blog, I have two requests. Would you like to join me in making her dream come true? If yes, please let me know by sending me an e-mail at pbizindavyi6@gmail.com.
I will give you all the details about the dream and how we can do it together.
The second request is this: Find someone (it could be a friend or not), ask him/her about his/her dream and help him/her make it come true. By so doing, yours will come true as well.
Moral of the story? Do you want to make someone’s dream come true? Just go to New York City and you will take off your shoes.
Always a pleasure
Patrick
The Journeyman
pbizindavyi6@gmail.com
I've just taken off my shoes while reading your story but for different reasons to yours. First,it's saturday (a very much sunny day)and I have "imanza" (yes I'm from Burundi) right after job,my shoes are itching me to hell. Secondly,I have to do what my prof tells me to (Yes I'm your former student too). My name's Frank and was really surprised to see your facebook invite some days back. But that was one drop in an ocean of surprises:I didnt know you're a story teller too. Keep it up Master.
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