Monday Motivation: Remember Them Dents
Can you name this TV theme song?
You take the good, you take the bad,
you take them both and there you have
The facts of life, the facts of life.
Ok, I think I gave that one away. But it’s true, isn’t it? The fact of life is that there will always be good and bad, positive and negative, happy and sad, life and death. You might be able to fool yourself for a bit but inevitably it will catch up to you–especially that last one.
I sat on the couch this evening and watched Cars 2 with my boys and the great philosopher, Mater (maybe let’s call him Plater) blew my mind. Check out this conversation.
Mater: Oh, for a second there I thought you was trying to fix my dents.
Holley Shiftwell: Yes, I was.
Mater: Well then, no thank you. I don’t get them dents buffed, pulled, filled or painted by nobody. They way too valuble.
Holley Shiftwell: Your dents are valuble? Really?
Mater: I come by each one of ’em with my best friend Lightning McQueen. I don’t fix these. I wanna remember these dents forever.
There are two schools of thought regarding our dents. On one side, we’re constantly trying to hide our dents, painting ourselves in the best light and positioning ourselves for the next big thing. One the other side, all the business experts are telling us to embrace our dents–that they acquired numerous dents on the road to success.
So which is it? Maybe you’ve been through times in life where you couldn’t repair the dents fast enough. Maybe those dents were so deep that you couldn’t see a positive. Let’s face it, the facts of life are not easy–in fact, more times than not, they downright suck.
Whatever your circumstance, I encourage you be a bit like Mater and find a way to wear your dents proudly. I know, that sounds like a stretch, but I have yet to find a dent that didn’t teach me something or make me stronger. Perhaps we can even look back at those dents and be grateful, if for no other reason than to embrace the opportunity to support someone else struggling with the same dents.
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credit: http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0009195/quotes
Hi Jeremy,
I am reminded from this post, that education is expensive. Whether you pay for formal schooling or the “school of hard knocks”, it comes with a price.
Steve, Fantastic point! I’m reminded of the fact that we never want to forget those lessons or we risk repeating and having to learn all over again.
Wow, truly a great post Jeremy, as is often the case with you. Thank you for providing perfect timing on your wise words. I sometimes think I need to cover up and buff out, polish up and perfect the dents and then a great post like yours comes along and reminds me that being imperfect and human is OK. Thanks for the dose of inspiration and for your wisdom.
xo
Thanks Doug! I’m thrilled to have imparted some wisdom on you!