Tag Archives: Hope

David- What We Don’t See

I recently took a nine day trip to Italy and it was phenomenal. My family and I spent 4 days in Tuscany, 1 in Orvieto, and 4 days in Rome. We packed in as much sightseeing as we could and saw and experienced tons of art, history, food, and wine. While it was all fantastic, the one thing that stood out and was the most breathtaking to me was Michelangelo’s statue of David.

One of the days we were in Tuscany we took a day trip to Florence where we went to the Duomo, Baptistry, Art Museum, and the Galleria dell’Accademia where David stands. During all of this we had a personal tour guide who was nothing short of fantastic. He was of German and Italian descent and ironically had his Ph.D. in Philosophy, to which we bonded over. It was his words during the tour that have moved me to write this post and that have provided me with some of the insights and facts this post stands on.

The Galleria is filled with some of Michelangelo’s extremely rare unfinished works, however, it is David that immediately catches one’s eye. Crafted in 1501 and standing at 17 feet tall, the sculpture’s level of detail and beauty is nothing short of perfect. While the artistic and aesthetic aspects of the work are truly great, those are not what gives the piece its true meaning, at least in my opinion.

Most know the story in the Bible of David and Goliath. David, a small child and future king of Israel, defeated and killed the ~7 foot tall Philistine warrior, Goliath. With just a simple slingshot and rock, David used his mind and hands to hurl the rock, crushing Goliath’s forehead. It is this character of David that Michelangelo crafted a marble manifestation of.

So what is the significance of David and Goliath? Well, also back in the 1400’s was a philosopher by the name of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (Pico). Pico believed that with the power of God and pure human intuition, anyone can overcome any obstacle by using their hands and their head. In other words, by working and thinking. Michelangelo took this and put it into David, literally. Look at David’s hands and head. They’re out of proportion and much too big for his body. How fitting is it for Pico’s position to be crafted onto David, one of the purest symbols of overcoming evil and tribulation?

“Whatever seeds each man cultivates will grow to maturity and bear in him their own fruit.”
-Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

But this goes further. It is awesome that Michelangelo incorporated so much thought into his sculpture, but the true value is in what David stands for. David; relaxed, triumphant, and confident, stands for everything that is good. The statue of David is the biggest threat to those who promote oppression and evil, because David proudly symbolizes everything they try to oppress. All of these oppressive cultures; radical Islam, racial supremacy, political subjugation, etc.. all base their agendas on the idea that certain people do not deserve rights because of their race, religion, political association, etc.. The statue of David and the ideals it represents, however, says the exact opposite.

David represents the concept that no matter who you are, where you’re from, or what your background is, you can defeat and overcome any evil with just your hands and your head. And if one remembers this, than one can never be truly defeated. This has never been more relevant than today. We the people who believe in what is good must never forget what we have and the powers of which we posses. After all, nobody can take your morality unless you let them.

 

 

 

Tom Fusillo

Work On Your Work

Whether you realize it or not, you have probably heard people complain about and criticize their job or whatever it is they do. This is not just limited to paid work, but extends to schoolwork, internships, and other tasks. Most humans loathe almost all work and believe they are almost always deserving of a vacation. This is the problem: it is one thing for one to say they need a vacation, but it is completely different for one to truly believe that they need and deserve that break from work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m am certainly not saying that we should work every day until we die. Vacations are great, but it is so important to have the right reasons and understanding behind your motives. I’ve narrowed the list of reasons as to why people feel like they need to opt-out of work down to three:

  1. The system
  2. They’re too good for their job
  3. They’ve done enough

The first reason is one that I talk about a lot with my close friends. It’s the thing we all dread….The system. To me, the system is the fall of the American Dream, monotonous helpless cycle many feel they can’t get out of, and to me the system is the long gray line of American manhood. Growing up we’re taught that where you’re from doesn’t have to be where you’re going. That if, “You work hard, you do the right thing, you clean up.” And this is all true, but for many Americans, this society we live in, this system, does everything it can to make the journey to your goals as difficult as possible. Our society, rather than promoting and nurturing creativity and curiosity, rather than encouraging young people to take risks and see the world, and rather than idolizing values and morals instead of money and objects, has trapped us. This system causes us to make career decisions we don’t want to make, do the same thing every day, become stuck in our personal ideologies, become more closed-minded, and become filled with more hate and less love.

The reality is that our society is becoming more and more like this “system.” However, what but nothing is a man or woman who commits themselves blindly to a system that has no true intentions? If you hate this system and think that the right way rebelling against it is to not participate, you’re probably wrong. Boycotting, rebelling, rioting, using entails doing the opposite of the thing you’re upset with, but in this case, we absolutely can not, should not, stop working. Rather, we need to work harder and dedicate ourselves to putting life and goodness into the work we do. Yes, some industries are nasty and it can be so hard to see anything good come from them, just look at American politics right now. However, the very perceived nature of these industries does not reflect their possibilities. We can not avoid this system by withdrawing ourselves. We are to avoid this system by committing ourselves. Committing ourselves to a new work ethic, a new driving force of creativity, a new heart as a society.

Another popular but subtle reason we hate working is because many people think that they are “too good” for their job. This is ridiculous, this infuriates me, and if you think this you are certainly not too good for your job. This is an absolutely toxic mindset and is a reason behind why millennials are thought to be the worst generation to every be (but that’s a different story). It is possible, and even common for one to run out of challenges and interest at their job, but this in no way is synonymous to them being better than that job. I believe this sense of false confidence and entitlement stems from the idea that people are too concerned with living their life and only smelling the roses rather than building a life. These same people think that once they’re around 30 they’ve found the work and job they’re supposed to do for a lifetime, when in fact there are always new challenges. It should be no surprise that when you commit yourself to a long term routine, you may get complacent. However, being complacent does not and never will mean you’re better than what it is you’re complacent o
ver. Challenge yourself to stop living your life and start building it, as anti-motivational speech esque that may sound.
steve-jobs-dont-settle-quote
Finally, the third reason I have identified as to why many people hate working is that they think they’ve done enough. They think they’ve done their time and the day where they hang up the gloves and kick up their feet on a beach somewhere in the Keys for years to come has finally arrived. Before I dive into this let me be clear: I am not anti-retirement, nor am I against those who retire, and I am not against those who retire early (whatever “early” means). Though I do believe that there is a right time to take your foot off the gas and start collecting retirement benefits, this transition is very personal and differs on a case to case basis. CEO Gary Vaynerchuk believes that we shouldn’t be afraid to start a new phase of our careers because of our age, contrarily, getting older is all the more reason to start that new project, to launch your own company, to take on that extra proposal, etc.. I hink that you should ask yourself a couple of questions before you decide to dig your feet in the sand. Ask yourself if you’ve done all you can? Is there anything left to do?  Can I make things better? Where can my curiosity still take me? Evaluate your purpose and how its changed over the past X number of years.
Don’t just look back, look forward.

It’s true that work, whether its a job or schoolwork, can be tedious and just suck, but that one assignment, that one task, or that one job certainly doesn’t represent them all, and you’d be naive to think that. Rather than giving in, kick it up a notch and challenge yourself. Build your life- and you will create crazy things.

 

Thomas Fusillo

 

 

 

Unyielding Hope

It’s three o’clock in the morning and you have work or class at eight. All the while you’re up asking yourself, asking the world, and asking God what the point of going to that class or showing up to work is. All of the sudden things appear to be so distant, so out of touch, and so much more unrealistic then they were just earlier that day. We can ask why this happens, but the most important question to ask is where to go from here? Should we give up, start over, or keep going?

The interesting thing about when people are in the above described situation is that they will almost always continue on the charted course. They’ll end up going to work tomorrow, they’ll go to class, and they’ll keep up with their usual routine. Do they keep going because they’re simply too lazy or believe it is too hard to change their lifestyle? Or is it because deep inside every human being there is almost always piece of hope?

Hope is personal. For some, they may not realize or think that hope has played a big role in their lives, while for others it is all they have. When I was applying to colleges, one of the essays I had to write asked the cliche question, “What is your favorite word and why?” My answer  was hope. I said that my favorite word was hope not just because I had a lot of hope at that time, but also because I wouldn’t have gotten to that point in my life without it. Here I am over two years later holding on to that same piece of hope. It’s that piece of hope that screams in your ear every morning tell you to get up. That voice in your head that makes you stay up an extra few hours to finish the work you need to finish. Hope along with faith is what keeps you going when there’s no earthly reason for you to carry on with your mission.

So why do we keep going? It’s simply a natural human response. We, as humans, are wired to never surrender our goals. We keep going because of that unyielding hope deep in our hearts. It is fair to say that some have more hope than others, but that doesn’t mean that each and every one of us doesn’t have something to fight for. Something to keep pushing forward for. Take a look at what Steve Jobs said in Apple’s Think Different campaign:

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

Maybe we shouldn’t just view hope as a virtue, but also as a challenge. Challenge yourself to take whatever hope you have, and turn it into a physical manifestation through your daily routine and thoughts. Be one of the crazy ones. Because after all, by doing nothing you have everything to lose and nothing to gain. However, by holding on to that hope and just trying to push the human race forward, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” -Jim Elliot

 

Thomas Francis Fusillo