Lately I’ve been worried about lions. Especially the ones on YouTube. I’ve watched lions frolic around with guys whose job, it seems, is to hang out with lions big and small, day after day. I read somewhere that lions are on the verge of becoming endangered – however, as I manifested myself as ’angry and cynical’ in the previous column, I’ll manifest myself as something else this time. Unpredictability is one of my many virtues.
In addition to lions, I’ve also been thinking about success. Why write about success and lions? I think there are many people in the target audience of Tutkain who either like lions or want to succeed, in politics or arts or science or whatever – this column is for you, succée.
Achieving things is kind of hard. After finding out your preferred field of success, you don’t get to do anything fun except for that particular thing and even then you end up watching lion videos. Earlier we learned the sweet, sweet recipe for that sweet, sweet ”big S”: dream, believe, work hard and succeed. Some choose to believe this is the way to success, some believe success is already theirs and some get fired up about just the thought of Mr. Stubb marching in to give a talk at the University with that big nose of his.
I don’t know who’s right or wrong and to be honest, I care more about lions than Mr. Stubb. However, I do know that a wise man (maybe God, I forget who) once said: ”If thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee”.
Wait, but what does that mean? I’ve no idea. I think it means that if you think long enough about your goals and stare at the pile of books/”tech”/stacks of dollars on your Lena Dunham/Slush/Floyd Mayweather-esque table, you’ll feel an irresistible urge to do something – whether it’s joining the Money Team, getting into the start-up-buzz-good-feelings-scene or becoming the Voice of Your Generation. Or anything, you can become anything; as long as you have the guts to go outside and ride that Jolly Jumper no matter how hard it tries to throw you down.
My point is this: I want to become King of the Cosmos. Do you? I can’t tell you what to do and neither can anyone else. Falling through the looking glass is lucky but from all I’ve heard, hard work helps. Of course, as some people say, success isn’t everything and they are probably right. Being a dude-who-hangs-out-with-the-lions is everything.
text: Sofia Blanco Sequeiros