"As a matter of Cosmic History...

"As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy, than to create."

-Spock to McCoy, from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

With that one sentence, the writers of Star Trek II (Paramount, 1982), Jack B. Sowards and
Nicholas Meyer (who also directed the picture) encapsulate my feelings exactly on
not only computer graphics, but on life as well.

Let me explain...

How easy is it to pull a trigger?
How easy is it to say something that you regret?
How easy is it to fight with someone for so long that you forget what the fight is about?
Unfortunately, too easy.

Now, let me ask you this...

How easy is it to create an image that makes someone cry from joy?
How easy is it to create a song that brings people back to their childhood?
How easy is it to write a book that changes the world?
Unfortunately, not very easy.

Why is this? Well, someone once said that nothing worth doing is ever easy.
I agree, although at times (many times) I wish it were easy.
The pain, the struggle, the sheer effort of creation makes the end result all
the sweeter. If it were easy, well, what would be special about anyone's creations?
Nothing really.

If it were easy, what would you say about someone who was unable to create
something special? You might tend to put them down, ask why they weren't
able to create a thing of beauty when, clearly, it is so easy.
If you did that, then, how long would it take before they stopped even trying?

Unfortunately, not long at all.

The fact that it IS NOT easy to create, to make things of beauty or wonder,
is the very reason people keep trying. If it had been easy to go to the moon,
would we have even tried? No, we would have gone to Mars.














Think about that one moment in history,
and imagine it gone. No more "One small step for man, one giant lep for mankind".
That one sentence (like the one at the top of this posting) completely summarizes
what I am writing about. The giant things in life are accomplished by small steps.
It doesn't make them any easier, just possible.

What the students at Flashpoint Academy are doing is very difficult. They are learning
an amazing amount of information in a very small amount of time. Standing at the
bottom of, what to them, must look like a huge mountain, they often feel that it
is going to be so much effort that they don't know if they can do it. Then they start
climbing. As they take those small steps, they look around, and to the left and the right,
it doesn't look so steep. In fact, it is kind of beautiful! Not easy, but beautiful.



I encourage them to take the time to look around, as they climb this mountain.

Getting tired? Is it really difficult? Good!
You are doing something that will make you
feel great when you are done. Still tired? Kind of scared?
Then stop for a second and turn around.
Look down at the path you have walked. See how far you have come
in such a short amount of time?
It will only get better (and harder) from here.

But in the end, when you are done, it will also be all that much sweeter.

Every one of you reading this blog has the ability to do great things.
Those things are not easy. Nothing worth doing ever is.

Now stop reading this blog and start climbing that mountain!