Weekly Wednesday Inspiration #26

-by Matt Leedham

I am fascinated with prison life. I watch shows like Lockdown and Locked Up Abroad and love movies like The Shawshank Redemption and Escape from Alcatraz. My wife thinks I'm crazy, and for awhile I never understood why I was so intrigued. After reflecting on it a bit, I now understand what's going on.

I'm afraid of going to prison. Some people are afraid of spiders or heights. I'm afraid of prison, particularly being sent there for a crime I didn't commit. It took me just a moment to realize why I'm so afraid. With core values around freedom, possibilities, and family, it's no wonder being in prison is scary to me.

But after watching the video below, the fear is subdued. I look at this man, Dewey Bozella, wrongfully accused and sentenced for a crime he did not commit, and I realize that values are boundless. They cannot be imprisoned.

Dewey values truth, honor, discipline, perseverance, love, forgiveness, and gratitude. He paid dearly for these values, but lived a life worth living. And although it took him 32 years to be vindicated and released, he is now just beginning his true quest in life.

I hope you are inspired by this video. I hope that you see what we've been saying for a while - your values are not negotiable. I have not been tested like Dewey has, and I hope you will never be tested in this way either, but I want you to believe that when you are stripped of everything, you still have possession of a few things which can never be taken from you: your thoughts, your beliefs, your emotions, and your values.

Live by them.

The Truth

-by Matt Leedham

Achieving goals and living a life of purpose and meaning is like being in the Matrix.

Boy: “Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.”

Neo: “What truth?”

Boy: “There is no spoon.”

Neo: “There is no spoon?”

Boy: “Then you’ll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.”

I love this scene. I find it a powerful metaphor for a lot of challenges in a person’s life. In the context of this post, the spoon represents rules, social constructs, belief systems and other people’s expectations.

The point being, there is only one rule to living a purposeful, meaningful life: There are no rules.

To be happy, fulfilled, and successful (whatever you define that to be), you cannot live by other people’s definition of your world. That makes no sense. And frankly, you will never meet the expectations of those around you because you are not invested in those expectations, nor do you have a clear understanding of what they are.

When you are grounded in core values that define your existence, it is then that the world becomes a favorable place to be yourself. Then you’ll see that it is not the world, society, or other people’s expectations of you that bends, it is only yourself.

(my apologies for what appears to be Croatian subtitles…I couldn’t find a clean version to embed)