I remember fondly many of my celebrations of my favorite day of the year. Christmas? Birthdays? Halloween? INDEPENDENCE DAY! Oh yes, the one time of the year when you could go outside on a warm night and have a bag full of fireworks and go to town. When I was young, there were very few restrictions on the sale and use of fireworks. It was very common to have “bottle rocket wars” with the neighbors well into the night. And of course, who wants to light one black cat at a time? No, we lit the entire brick of firecrackers at once and listened to the melodic crrrack of the fireworks. It’s no wonder that the law changed quickly from year to year and eventually tightened restrictions so much that now, you have to drive way outside of town and find a remote stand and then light them in a parking lot or lonely road somewhere…ugh…where’s the fun in that?
I remember waking up the day after the 4th, going outside around our neighborhood, and finding the long red sticks used in bottle rockets. You’d think I was finding small gems or something. I’d gather them all up in my hands and think of the glorious night’s activities. Back in the day, the “Black Cat” manufacturer called these “bottle rockets” because they were just the right length to sit in an empty Coke bottle and leave the fuse hanging out to light. Eventually (and still today) these exciting fireworks were completely outlawed because of their unpredictable flight path, and also because there were very fun to hold in your hands and throw them in the air, timed perfectly to fly even higher. I feel certain if more people had used the bottle rockets as they were designed, they’d still be around today.
At some point, (probably during history class), I began to ponder the reason for the red sticks. My friends and I had dissected many a firework in our days. We ripped the red sticks off of the bottle rockets and lit them on the ground. They would randomly flip and flop and then pop at the end of their flight, usually never getting air-born.. It was fun and all, but it was much more fun to send them sailing in to the night sky with their sticks attached. I figured out that red sticks served several purposes. Boy, those fireworks guys are geniuses. The red stick gave the the black powder rocket stability, balance, and kept it pointing in the right direction. Amazing how a tiny skinny stick could do so much. I never thought about the understanding I had of physics as a young kid, and never knew it. Perhaps physics classes could use a few hands on lessons using bottle rockets! I soon figured out that several things require opposing force to make them function properly. Imagine an engine in a car without the work of overcoming weight, drag, and terrain differences. If you put the car in neutral and floored it, the motor would BLOW within a short period of time. By adding these red sticks, despite the added weight, it held the firework in a correct upward direction. It also served as a sort of rudder once it was in flight. And with all of these things in check, the bottle rocket would soar to all kinds of delightful heights.
So the question I have for you is: What are you using in your life to provide balance, direction and stability? If you aren’t using something, you may be flipping and flopping from one area to another and maybe never even getting off the ground. If you don’t have people encouraging you, challenging you and helping you, it’s gonna be a frustrating and long journey.
Likewise, if you aren’t making yourself a more viable asset with education, knowledge and experience, you might also be destined to remain grounded. Pretend you are a bottle rocket for a second. Before you had a red stick attached to your side, you never knew anything better than going in random circles and only travelling a few feet from where you began. Then one day, a fireworks genius stuck a red stick on you. Now with this addition, you could fly WAY up in the sky! All your efforts were focused on going ONE direction and all your energy was spent to go higher and faster. Then from the high perspective in the air, you see the tiny little area you used to be confined to. Now you can see for miles in any direction and you aren’t running into anything – it’s a glorious flight indeed!
Be the person you were meant to be and the person you CAN be. At age 35, Muhammad Ali said he was going to be a third time Golden belt champion. In his mind, he determined this and used everything he did to achieve this goal. He flew higher, faster and reached his goal. (Besides: he moves like a butterfly and stings like a bee.)
It’s never too late to find a new direction, but make sure you are keeping yourself equipped and outfitted for the journey. Put people around you that will help you in every way. Read books that will teach you how to do it. Try things without a thought of failure. After all, failure is the omission of expected or required action. You were never meant to mean to STOP or give up. Try again. With every failure, you are closer to getting it right!