Moments of Conception 148 - The Kitchen Scene from Varsity Blues

January 03, 2015 4:12 PM

All creativity begins with the moment of conception.

That little piece of kindling that gets the fire going. That initial source of inspiration that takes on a life of its own. That single note from which the entire symphony grows. That single spark of life that signals an idea’s movement value, almost screaming to us, something wants to be built here.

And so, in this blog series, I’m going to be deconstructing my favorite moments of conception from popular movies. Each post will contain a video clip from a different film, along with a series of lessons we can learn from the characters.

Today’s clip comes from the kitchen scene in Varsity Blues:

What can we learn?

Dream big and dream early. People love being around dreamers. They’re invigorating as hell. Like oxygen to the soul. Dreamers lovingly hold up a mirror that demands we look at ourselves and honor our own desires. They inspire us to expand to our full capacity as human beings. That why I married one. A soul on fire with sparkles in her eyes. And the reason is simple. Do you know how good it feels to wake up next to someone who has dreams to chase? And do you know how easy it is to get out of bed when the person you love has a horizon to point to? You’ll never need another alarm clock again. And, you’ll never treat others the same way again. That’s the transformative power of imagination. Once you become a dreamer, it changes what you see when you see people. You start to believe that everyone’s dreams are worth chasing. You start to support them every step of the way. And what happens is, people almost don’t even know how to react when they are treated as human beings with ideas, feelings and dreams. All they can do is thank you for believing in them. And so, dreaming doesn’t just change you, it changes everyone who comes into contact with you. It changes how they experience themselves in relation to you. Does your dream benefit others?

I had enough dreams to keep god busy. The reality is, most people’s dreams stay in that form forever. No matter how many times they encounter that thing that sticks inside of them and says now, they still don’t give themselves permission to let it out. And so, whatever expression is crawling around inside of their brains, stays there. Because some parent or coach or teacher or authority figure superimposed their own dreams onto them. Mox’s father claims to be looking out for his son, but he’s really just building his own dream and using his son to do it. He’s neatly convinced the boy to dream the same dream as him. But instead of stuffing his dream in the closet like a prom dress, this quarterback stands up against the tide of nonbelievers. I don’t want your life, he yells, hoping to communicate his desire to pursue academics over athletics. And yet, as overdramatic and cheesy as that line is, just imagine how many teenagers with they could say that to their parents. Imagine how many young people aren’t creating their own dream, and instead are pressured to fulfill the one they’ve been sold. The one that was programmed into them. And they’re clinging to that inherited dream as a fixture of absolute truth. It’s sad. Because the only thing more painful than being patient with your dream is realizing that it’s someone else’s dream for you. Who’s trying to weld you into their dream machine?

What starts as a dream finishes as a nightmare. Covey famously said that if our ladder is leaning against the wrong wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster. Dreams can be like that sometimes. They fall into our lap on a moment’s notice, and we’re so flattered and stunned and excited, that we instinctively raise our hand without considering the cost. Over the years, I’ve taken jobs, made investments, launched projects, even started new relationships because I thought they were in line with my dream. But then the world changed. Or my world changed. And something I once pursued so passionately started to feel like a monkey on my back. So I cursed and kicked and berated myself for being so naïve. What the hell was I thinking? How could I have been so incredibly blind? But looking back, what I should have done was pause. I should have stopped being so hard on myself. And I should have recognized that there’s no such thing as a wrong decision. In fact, there’s no such thing as a right decision either. Stupid, yes. Wrong or right, no. It’s just a decision. We make millions of them in our lifetime. And all of them matter. They’re not wrong. They’re not right. They just are. And so, every endeavor––dream, nightmare or otherwise––is a crucial part of the life experience. Just because something ends poorly doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have started in the first place. Nothing is ever wasted. Even if it makes us bleed, it still makes us who we are. When was the last time one of your dreams changed shape mid stream?

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What did you learn from this movie clip?

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Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com