Height of Ambition

     What we are, and what we are not, may come down to our perception of a line on a door jamb. Not just any line, but one dedicated to recording our growth, maturity, freedom. It allows us to forgive childhood while giving us counterfeit credentials to move beyond where we have been wished to remain. 

     There is no end to demarcation between the past and a future, as it is an arbitrary illusion attributed by others with no specified intent, but leaves a perception of impenetrability that deflates the bubble of optimism, that makes growth possible. The line on the door jamb looked upon years later provides not only a measure of change, but an opportunity that causes us to assess the quantity and quality of that change.

    The marks of change are placed there by others as a reminder of where we have been, but does not, because it cannot, predict future indicators of growth. We, therefore, when looking at the various measures of growth, look to the past as a way of predicting a future. A persons physical growth is more complicated; predictions made by past progress do not consider contributions made by anything other than genetic indicators. Growth however encompasses more than the physical. It is imbued with a mystical aspect that although not as measurable, has the potential to be far more impactful.

    The marks on the door jamb have remained reminders of a past, but fail to gauge the emotional and spiritual growth that accompanies it. Only memory can do that. Memory too, has its limitations as we tend to compensate, add to, or detract from, those that do not fit the marks we have etched on our minds.

    My brother suffered a debilitating injury which froze his ascending physical growth, but freed him to explore possibilities unimagined, had he not been limited by physical expansion, and introduced the possibilities of metaphysical development. He was able to take the experiences he had accumulated, change his perspective as to how those experiences could be deployed, and amend the outcome by applying a different approach based on that perspective, achieving a similar outcome, although using divergent techniques.

     We are encouraged to go beyond the last mark observed, by doing, expanding possibility, allowing us to explore what the limits prescribed by education, race, religion, or ethnicity, prevent. The limitations that are arbitrarily enforced are effective only, when the highest mark on the jamb is considered to be the limit of growth. The symbolic principled aspects of recording physical growth should not be used as a gauge to limit possibility, and yet it segregates certain members of society, doing just that.

    Educational achievements in the form of degrees, which allow for acceptance in certain communities, does not guarantee the supposed accomplishments associated with that degree of acceptance. Perseverance and money can obtain a variety of diplomas, if the only measure of success is achieving a prescribed level of proficiency. Proficiency does nothing but insure that the lowest acceptable level of requirements have been met. There is no way to determine the potential of someone without exposing them to varied situations and analyzing their reactions to them.

    The ability of a person is often unrecognized when not accompanied by the acclamations and accreditation of a supposed reliable source. Having a degree, the affirmation of time and some degree of diligence allows the doors to swing open because of the assumption you are worthy, you have paid your dues. Of what, for what, no one knows, and for the most part cares, as long as you minimally perform and the coffers continue to fill with gold.

     Societies have benefited from the advances of science and education overall, but we have also compromised homogeny in an age of specialization. When specialization becomes the objective, the parameters of knowledge constrict, allowing a tunneled perspective of an objective, while excluding external stimulus and objectivity. Focus and energy are directed to one purpose, excluding the possibility of external influence that may offer insight into reaching a determined goal.

    The focus on achievement no longer encourages a comprehensive understanding of the means to a goal, but in the zeal to not accept the line on the jamb as finite. The means are pushed and manipulated to become the end all and be all in surpassing the limitations inherent in it. 

    We face the conundrum of accepting limitations or striving to overcome them. I see the line on the jamb, the last line, and realize the finality it represents. I also know that is not the determining factor in my growth. 

    Just as it takes many tributaries of varying sizes to create a river, it takes the varied divergent contributions of a population to create a society that recognizes its limitations, but is not limited by them. 

    Accepting the physical limitations of growth should not discourage us from exploring the varied contributions of a diverse population. When exclusion diverts or dams a tributary of knowledge, the river loses prominence. As more tributaries are not allowed to contribute to our societal river, our river becomes less prevalent. Its ability to benefit life is lessened. When the river becomes dependent upon only a few select tributaries it becomes no more than a reflection of itself, and will remain no more than a shrinking stream bed.

    I often think of those lines that marked my progress. My optimism growing with each advance, until I reached that place where it no longer mattered. My growth no longer depended upon a singular goal which idealistically inferred my potential had been reached, when in actuality it had only changed, become more expansive. 

    Individuals and societies will only reach collective goals that benefit both, when all contributions are accepted, none excluded because of subjective limitations based on specialties defined by a few. 

    The physical stature of a person should not determine the potential of that person. Our obsession with specialization can become not only the arbitor of personal growth, but the collective growth of society. That line of many colors that marked our progress cannot be erased as it reminds us of the progress that has made not only who we are, but what our contribution is to what our society is becoming.