Don’t Be the Last Jedi

It occurred to me that every time I watch a movie, in my case it’s a lot of fictional movies, my attention seems to have been driven towards the protagonist character (doesn’t have to be the main character) who makes the call whether to keep pushing it to the limit or not. 

I’d pay a great deal of attention to how they make decisions, how they react in their most critical times, how they manage to hyperfocus while flying that broken airplane fast with attacks coming from all sides. Or how they choose to follow their heart whenever the entire world is designed against them.

From fictional movies to a lot of real-life examples I’ve seen firsthand, I’ve always learned these:

1. You can save the world.
2. You may hurt people, too.

If the cost to attain number one involves hurting people, intentionally or not, drop it before you can’t undo the shit. And too many, many, many of us stepped into number two and think we can get away by ‘I didn’t have any other option’ excuse or because we must ship no matter what, or that the show must go on. But at what cost, though? In other words, you can be smart and heroic, but don’t be an asshole. But if you happen to be in a position where becoming an asshole is skin thick close, return to yourself. Be human, again, and again.

Such thing is understandable. We hear and see this everywhere. That person with brain who lands many people’s dream job. Or that attractive young lady who can stop the world whenever she walks by. See, you either need to be extremely smart (whatever smart means in this century) or physically attractive. Or maybe both if you’re lucky.

But that is only one thing. It’s just simply being smart or beautiful. The great news: with many advances made here and there today, those two goals seem to have become more and more attainable than ever for everybody. I want to talk about the aspect that is far greater than all those combined.

Im arriving at this point of life where I get extremely picky on who I choose to spend my hours with, both in professional and personal context, or if I intend to include this person in my long-term mission, whatever that can be in many plans I have. At some point, you just know the true difference between smart and wise people. Wise people think very carefully of every word they choose, they pour their heart into their sentences, in the way those things are delivered from one heart to another. Yea, they use heart. Whatever. They’re resourceful. But smart people are like things that just grow out of trees. More and more of them everyday. So perhaps, the next big step after acquiring knowledge from here and there is to understand where to place ourselves in times when it’s needed. 

A lot of people come to our lives in different packages and not very few of them use those two gifts to get what they want no matter what it takes. They force everyone around them to work in rhythm only they can enjoy because their agenda must be the top of everyone else’s priority. But from what I’ve learned in my experiences shipping a lot of amazing things with cool people, world does not work that way. It’s full of compromises to make. Not just about you and your goals, however intelligent and attractive you are. 

I believe every challenge we face evolves every day. We can’t just simply throw ourselves in this field of war we know very little about. I tell myself to step up the game every day by trying to be the best human being to myself and everyone. I trick our mind more that I am braver than what I think I am, smarter than all the grades I’ve earned in all those classes I’ve put myself through, and most importantly, wiser enough to try to understand what it’s like to walk in other people’s shoes.

And balanced world needs more Jedi. So, be Jedi. Actually, no, be better than every Jedi in the galaxy.