Monday, February 23, 2009

Breaking Out of the "Rudy" Mentality

I've never thought about this before, until after a conversation I had with someone at work a week or two ago. One of the departments at my work is going through a training class aimed at figuring out what each person is good at and what they most enjoy doing, and finding ways to let them express those giftings naturally in their work environment. After all, people are far more efficient and a lot more satisfied when they're doing something they're good at and that they enjoy.

Many times we don't ever realize our full potential, and part of the reason is because America is under a "Rudy" mentality. Think about the movie "Rudy" for a second... Here's this guy, a short, light-weight guy, who dreams of playing football for a certain college team. He's not built for football, football is not what he was created to do, and yet he continues to pursue this dream, all the while ignoring his other talents and letting the fullness of his potential lay untapped.

I admit, I've seen the movie, and liked it. But once I started thinking about this, I realized how silly the whole idea of that movie, and the story behind it, really was. As the person who was telling me about this said, "Yeah, it's a shining example, all right... A shining example of horrendous waste."

I began to meditate on the difference between "Rudy" and my favorite movie of all time, "August Rush." If "Rudy" is a shining example of wasted potential, then "August Rush" is a glorious testament to the beauty of potential realized. When, with the help of the Holy Spirit, a person finds what they were created to do, and when they embrace it passionately with their whole heart, they will be much further along on the road to rich joy and fulfillment in this life.

2 comments:

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi MEL :)

You are very right.

I took up a job of selling although I was not happy about it. Those days jobs were not as many as they are today. So I tried to retain my job by doing whatever best I could do. I did not succeed much.

On the other hand my eldest son Francis Xavier was not interested in higher studies. He bought a computer book on graphics programming called DIRECT X out of his pocket money and started learning it all by himself. He missed his college classes so much that the director refused to allow him to sit for the final year degree examination. We begged the director and he agreed. My son some how studied at the last moment and scraped through the degree.

But the surprising thing is that he came first in an IT competition and got a job even before writing his degree examination. He is 26 and has already gone to San Francisco, Dubai and Madrid on account of his work. He earns well and now he makes fun of me for earning a low salary after slogging 30 years in one company. I fully agree with him. He is right.

Many thanks for the excellent post.

Best wishes :)

Mel said...

Hi Joseph,

Wow, you really have personal experience with exactly what this post was about. Thank you for sharing your story with me. I'm glad for your son that he's done so well, I bet you're bursting with pride for him. :)

God bless you both!!