“Conventional wisdom” rules this world; meaning if you don’t fit the mold of what’s come before, you’ll probably find a lot of doubters in your way.
In his book, “The Element: How Finding your Passion Changes Everything,” author Ken Robinson tells the story of Elvis Presley and the days before he was a house-hold name.
“Organizers kept Elvis Presley from joining his school’s glee club,” Robinson writes. “They said his voice would ruin their sound; the glee club had standards to uphold. We all know the tremendous heights the glee club scaled once they’d managed to keep Elvis out.”
When does the encouragement to follow our passions end? No one would expect Brett Favre to still be playing football at 40 years old, and very few people would have thought it was a good idea. Jerry Rice probably played a season too long and the same goes for Joe Montana. There are lots of examples.
After last year with the Jets, probably no sports fan in America was hoping their team would sign Favre. But he still wanted to play. Even with the career record for consecutive starts, he has a passion for it. His success with the Vikings this year would seem to vindicate the decision.
Still, last year didn’t go so well for him, making the decision to play on after the Packers not seem so brilliant – but by going through that year, not ending on it; by following passion and not conventional wisdom and naysayers, Favre is adding to his legacy and [much more importantly] is probably having the time of his life.
As college students, we are at the place in our life where there seems to be so much before us, where we are encouraged to follow our heart and our passion.
However, that actually seems to be good advice for any stage of life. At the beginning of Favre’s career, 275 starts seemed like a number too big to imagine.
After all, no one had ever done it before. Now, after all those starts, you have to guess that every one he has left – less than 20? less than 10? less than five? – has to be particularly sweet.
The Rolling Stones, who are closing in on their 70s, made a half-billion dollars on their last tour. Harrison Ford had passed 65 when he made the latest Indiana Jones movie. And Brett Favre has thrown 12 touchdowns in his first seven games this season as a Viking at the age of 40.
Enjoy your youth. It’s a good starting place to get somewhere in life.
Dave Traube can be contacted at traube3@marshall.edu.
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