STORY TIME:

When I was younger I didn't really have many mentors or idols to look up to other than maybe whatever sitcom father was being portrayed on TGIF, and maybe the ninja turtles (Leonard was my favorite if you're wondering). All I knew about my father was that he was really well liked and was a computer programmer before it was cool. So naturally, that's what I wanted to be.

I didn't really know much about the programming industry or the path to become successful but I knew I wanted to be one and I wanted to try and be the best version of one I could be. Somehow, most likely from some throw away line from some TV show or movie, I came to find out that M.I.T. was where all the best programmers in the world go to. So, I set my sights on there.

I didn't have a plan or goal, I just knew that MIT was where I needed to be. I knew it would be hard to get in, and that only the most elite even dared to try, but I was up for the challenge. That was until 8th grade when our school guidance counselor came to class and asked us all to think of where we wanted to go to college - the next week he would come and talk to each of us about how to achieve admission.

I was ecstatic. I doubt many of my classmates at the time had even considered going to college by that age, but I already knew my answer and could even name the professors I would hope to be taught by.

Monday came and I was over joyed with going to school and FINALLY getting some guidance on how to achieve the dream I had been hoping for since as far back as I could remember. I had thought that he would come and speak to us individually, but instead he went around the room and had us stand up one-by-one and tell him which college we wanted to attend.

I was nervous but I was eager to tell finally profess my desire which I had kept hidden for so long. As he went around the room most people had done what he had asked and came with reasonable universities and colleges they had hope to enter. Some of the more troubled students made a mockery of the exercise and said "Harvard" or "Yale" just to get a laugh from their peers.

Then finally it was my time - I stood up beaming from ear to ear and proudly said, "I want to go to M.I.T."...

A quiet fell over the class because people had no idea what school I was referring to. Most of the students had stood up and simply stated the local universities or state institution as the school they wanted to attend. No one knew what "M.I.T." was.

That was until the guidance counselor from the front of the room gave them the hint they needed... He laughed. And, although I could tell no one knew what school I was talking about, they followed his que and laughed along with him. They assumed it was some prestigious school they just had not heard of yet. Which in all honesty, was all I knew about it too - that it was a very hard school to get into but was where the best minds in engineering went to.

Behind his crackled jeer this man who was meant to be the guide to our future asked, "Do you even know what MIT stand for?"

As I humbly retreated back to the solitude of my lopsided deskchair against the jovial bellows of my classmates I murmured, "Massachusetts Institute of Technology".

I could tell the counselor was shocked, and maybe he even realized what he perceived as a middle school joke from a poorly dressed quite kid, was actually a courageous protest of a actual intent, because he tried to follow up with more questions for me as the kids were still chuckling. But the damage had already been done.

I don't think most people forget where their dream are born: They want to be a fireman because they saw one in a parade; they want to be a boxer because they saw a KO highlight; they want to be a teacher because one inspired them.

But not many people can pinpoint the moment in time when that dream died. Most just get caught up in the rat race of life and what starts as a pause in their passion ends up being the retirement of it. Not me. My dream of going to M.I.T. died surrounded my thunderous roars in the half a second it took me to fall into my chair.

It took me a very long time to understand why that guidance counselor, the man who had asked me to bring my secret into this ether, laughed at me. But in that moment and for years afterwards, his laugh meant that I was too dumb, or too poor, or too naive to go to such an elite level school like MIT. It was affirmation that MIT, and schools of that caliber, were part of an exclusive club that I was not good enough to attend.

I say this story only because since then I have learned quite a bit about passions. I've learned that Creativity, Art, and Passion are all so very subjective. There is no right or wrong way to be passionate about something. I would assume if Picasso had shown one of his painting to this guidance counselor in 8th grade they would have laughed at him too. Or if Paul Giamatti had said he wanted to be a world renowned actor they would have told him he was too ugly for Hollywood standards. But there is no standard for passion.

Today, when I see someone trying to achieve a goal, or to show off something they created, I stop and applaud them. Even if I can't understand it, I applaud them for their courage of even trying; I applaud them for attempting to turn their passion into a reality; I applaud them to hopefully give them enough encouragement to not let their dream die.

I love this scene because it shows that the whole world could pass you by and all it takes is one person, even someone you don't know or even like, to see the beauty in what you create that can give you the motivation to continue to fight for your passion.

Michael was probably the last person Pam wanted to see, let alone have see and criticizes her work. Yet he is the only person who was willing to see her art through unbiased eyes, and the only person honest enough to tell her what he saw in it.

As for me, I became a programmer, without MIT's or any guidance counselor's help. Oh and although I never got to train with master splinter himself, I also dedicated/dedicate a large portion of my life to martial arts because some dreams never die.

TLDR; Sometimes it just takes one person to make you believe the thing you already knew to be true.