We all want to be Mr. Incredible

As a recent college graduate, I have been splitting my brain in half looking for jobs.  I am torn between one side that says, "just get a job, any job." and the other part of me that says, "don't settle for mediocrity, go for the gold!" At Wheaton College I have had inculcated in my brain these expectations for myself that I can go out there and literally change the world if I tried hard enough.  I could, single handedly, make the world a better place.  Wheaton College does much to bolster our egos and make the highly implausible seem within our grasp.  We have big whig speakers come in that have done much to change the world.  We arrogantly refer to ourselves as the "Harvard of Christian Schools."  Last but not least, seemingly all the students around you are on the fast track to success and stardom.

However, once I leave Wheaton, I get an entirely opposite message.  Yes, my family encourages me to pursue my dreams, but overall, I dread telling people my plans cause I know they are going to think they are like pie in the sky.  The pie is there, but you will never reach it precisely cause it is in the sky, out of reach.  Even worse, once I tell anyone I am a history major, the conversation instantly moves on to, "So what are you going to do for grad school?" As if a history major is worthless.

Nevertheless, I still want to pursue my dreams.  I don't want to let them go.  I want to make a difference in the world.  I still cling onto the hope that maybe someday, I can be Mr. Incredible.  I believe most people have their moments when their want to be Mr. Incredible.  Everyone has a romantic side that wants to do the impossible.  Everyone, I believe, wants to be the superhero that saves the day.  Why else are superhero movies so popular? Why else do movies always portray the spectacular? not the ordinary? I believe it is because no one wants to be ordinary, everyone wants to be extraordinary.


However, then our realistic side kicks in and says, "No, you can't do that.  I mean come on, there has got to be thousands of people better than you."  This may be true.  Not everyone can be Mr. Incredible.  We can't all be superheroes, otherwise the ordinary mundane work would never get done.  This "mundane" work, after all, matters just as much as the work of any superhero.  If we did not have Joe the Plumber, we would have chronic issues with our toilets, sinks, and bathtubs, and that would be really bad.  We all need Joe the Plumber, yet I believe all of us ultimately want to be Mr. Incredible.


Nor do I believe it is bad to want to be Mr. Incredible.  I believe too often people give up on their dreams without ever even starting.  They convince themselves their dreams could never come true.  Yet tell me, if people like Martin Luther King Jr. or Ghandi thought that way, where would we be?  The world needs people that are crazy enough to try to change the world, otherwise it would never be changed.  That is why I encourage everyone who reads this to pursue their dreams, and to pursue them relentlessly, for I believe it is better to dream big and fall short, than to never dream at all.