‘Look! Look at what I can do!’ These proud words left my mouth with every picture I drew, be it purple unicorns or orange bunnies. Napkins, envelopes, and toilet paper ‘ anything remotely related to paper ‘ were at the mercy of my almighty crayon. And woe to my poor father who left me alone with a canvas of a newly painted white wall.
While all my fellow peers talked about being world renowned astronauts and wrestlers, I graced them with a quick nod and tended to my most recent masterpiece. It wasn’t like I never thought about being an astronaut or a wrestler because I actually considered both. My passion for creation was just so great that not even the promise of rocket ships and spandex could sway me.
When I entered elementary school, all of the responsibilities of being a six year old blocked my ever flowing imagination. I now had to learn that adding two pennies to three pennies meant that there were five pennies and it’s wrong to place a period in the middle of a sentence.
Long gone were the days of my hourly scribbling ritual. I had to part with my beloved crayon to make room for this so-called ‘schooling.’ Despite this, the beast of artistic creationism was still roaring inside of me. High school was the time when I ‘officially’ became involved with art in the form of extracurricular classes.
It wasn’t until a few years ago when inspiration smacked me straight across the face. Every year, my family holds an annual get together, hosted by the winner of drawing straws. It so happened that the Goddess of Luck shined brightly upon my aunt during our nation’s 228th birthday. While preparing for the American feast of charcoaled cow patties and fried potatoes, I saw a burly man covered in dirt walking around the house.
I later learned the strange man was my aunt’s gardener. Of course, that job title was a bit less than impressive, but when coupled with his graduate degree from Cornell’s business program, it didn’t seem quite so lowbrow. In that instant, I saw how he was able to use business as a means to pursue his love of gardening. Therefore, why couldn’t I do the same? I had found the key to unleashing the beast.
So, in twenty years, with my crayon in one hand and my company’s business plans in the other, I want to be able to say, ‘Look! Look at what I did!’
