If you watched any TV this week, you probably heard something about Ted Williams, a homeless man living in Columbus, Ohio. A reporter saw the small sign he was holding as he tried to make a buck along a busy road. Williams had written that he had been an ex-radio announcer who had fallen on hard times.
When the reporter spoke to him on camera, Williams responded in a voice that was straight out of a professional studio. A video clip of the conversation went up on the internet, and within days, a star was born.
Since just last week, Williams has already completed a series of commercials for Kraft Foods, earning him $10,000. Other offers are pouring in. Yesterday, he was reunited with his mother, who hadn’t spoken to her son in several years.
The amazing thing is, this past Sunday, Ted Williams’ sole focus was probably fixed on where he was going to get his next meal. What a difference a day makes!
What happened to this homeless man is stuff of dreams. That he would have been able to pull himself out of the situation he found himself in would have been next to impossible. But not impossible.
I read something the other day that ties into this story really well. The author wrote that each of us should always have an impossible goal/dream in the back of their mind. Sadly, most of us don’t. I know I didn’t until recently.
I wonder if we hold ourselves back by only setting possible goals or limiting our dreams to only those that seem possible? Maybe it’s the fear of failure that holds us back from reaching for the impossible.
I think we need to start dreaming big again. Yes, we should have goals and dreams that we can reach, those that are really possible. In fact, these should be in the majority category. Without them, we’d get discouraged pretty quickly and throw in the towel.
But, I like the idea that we should always have at least one goal/dream that falls into the impossible category. Each and every day, somewhere in the world, the impossible is happening. Why can’t it happen to us?
Let’s all be determined to follow through with our dreams and goals this year. I’ve said this before, but it’s so important to write them down. I think I read once that the majority of goals and dreams are never accomplished because they weren’t written down.
I’m sure there are a couple of folks who haven’t even thought about goals/dreams for 2011 yet. Use the weekend and think about some. Maybe 2011 will be our year.
It certainly seems so for a former homeless man named Ted.
