Doctors and scientists said it was impossible.
“Man could not run a mile in less than 4 minutes! He would die in the foolish attempt. It was an impossible dream.”
24 year old Roger Bannister endured thousands of monotonous laps to prove it wrong. To date 955 runners have achieved the impossible dream accomplishing the feat an incredible 4700+ times.
Many of life’s barriers and obstacles come from within. Success is a choice to be chosen wisely because the choice you make today will determine your world tomorrow. Perhaps a few words today need to be redefined.
There is a peculiar tagline which prints itself on various t-shirts across the world every day. It simply says “Impossible it self says I am possible.” It would not be an exaggeration if I remark the word needs to be redefined from “Something which cannot be achieved” to “Something which will be achieved in the near future”. In this supersonic era our ideas and actions are shepherded with the belief of everything being possible. The generation has moved on from “I can” attitude to “I will”.
Had I been writing this piece of work half a century decades ago, it might have been flabbergasting. But today the word “Impossible” rings up memories of all miracles and innovations I have witnessed or heard off. What these innovations have brought in, is a transition in the mindset of people and the passion to re-infuse the chimerical effect of more innovations. The idea is to keep on challenging the limits and continuing to break them. Human mind today has reached a level where it is allowed to wander in all spheres of life leaving it beyond the control of mankind.
When I remark “Nothing is Impossible”, I quote it in an era where the world has found a solution to almost all the problems of the universe.
Setting up a news channel- A SATELLITE AWAY
Need a cloned cousin- FEW MONTHS AWAY
Need detailed information- A SEARCH ENGINE AWAY
Need shahrukh like dimples-VISIT THE SURGEON
Want your feotus to be a combo of Einstein and Madhuri- VISIT THE IVF CLINIC
How did this happen? It happened through a series of actions initiated by a few freaks who believed “Nothing is impossible”. Passion in a few men who dared to think different made the world we live in today and the impact spread to all areas of the globe.
Let us consider the field of science. Had our forefathers thought of gadgets which could keep our heart pumping? Did they ever hear of a chip made to insert in brain? Science has made our globe a better place to live in. There are drugs being developed to fight memory loss, nanotubes which will zap cancer cells and monitors working to test sugar level without requiring blood. My vision is, in a few years from now, we would retire from Earth when we desired and re-appear again when we want. Does all this sound contradictory to the word “Impossible”? Offcourse it does.
A quick peep in technology gives us a further instant feedback. A loved one just a video conference away, live coverage directly from Mars and plastics from medical implants. All this to every couch potato sitting at home. Can we ever smell a perfume or print a taste while shopping online? While you think of the answer someone in the world has already started research for it. Sounds soothing to ears but the experience is just a decade away.
While I talk about science and technology, a few other instances haunt my mind. These are those events which have left us feeling passionate, spooky and sometimes even confused. Some call it the power of the world, some call it a supernatural ability, some call it a miracle, the fact is they are here to stay. You can glorify or vilify them but one thing you cannot do is ignore them because they have re-imbibed the belief of “Nothing stands Impossible Today.” Chris Stewart, an 11 year old boy classified as non-survivable by doctors fights all odds of paralysis, strokes and iron rods to survive. A man from a small village near Tamilnadu lives without water and food since last 22 years. Hellen Keller, a blind deaf woman shows the world that a blind man’s mind can be educated, his hand can be trained and his ambitions can be realized. Warren Macdonald climbs Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain, Africa’s tallest peak Mt Kilimanjaro and America’s tallest cliff face El Capitan using a modified wheelchair. Kishore Biyani starts a small shop to sell tailor-stitched pants known as pantalun at that time which later on emerges as the famous chain of pantaloons. A soda fountain sold by John Pemberton becomes the most sought after drink as Coca-cola round the world. Nadia Comaneci becomes the originator of the perfect 10.
The preceding passage gives an idea of how man has broken the limits of impossibility. Though certain instances were far from being impossible, they make the feeling of ambition and vision re-visit our minds and there are simply others which leave us confused as to how it happened. This world, indeed, is not short of miracles.
After failing twice, Edmund Hillary quoted “I will come again and conquer you, because as a mountain you cannot grow but as a human I can”. In this world nothing is impossible when a few humans exist who want to prove their madness right. Be it the idli entrepreneur Sharad babu or the zealous Ratan Tata, the success stories are here to stay forever. What is worth the effort is that how each individual contributes to making everything a sheer possibility.
If each human on earth gives his very best to whatever he does, the chances are the yet unsolved mysteries of life could become the thing of past. Its just for the humans to think and to give their best. If each individual can change the way they see the world, they can literally, change the world.
“Think the impossible and the possible will emerge”.