The Joel Train

David comes to mind.  He was a senior in high school when we met.  A few years younger than me, he is tall and thin with big round eyes.  He's handsome in the way a little boy in church clothes is handsome.  Youthful and fun.  He was writing songs and singing in a band at the time.  And after high school he went on to college at Brown University.  David was always easy to like and found ways of being in the center of things.  His time at Brown was no different.  

David has dyslexia and ADHD.  His learning disabilities made it more challenging to do everything.  But David turned his diagnosis into a superpower.  At Brown, David founded an LD mentorship program.  They wrote a textbook to use in schools and created clubs that paired successful LD college kids with elementary students.  David has been teaching kids to express and empower themselves for many years now.  He's written a book about his life and experience and is a popular speaker on LD issues.  David has accomplished so much and he's still in his 30s.  Just amazing.

From what I recall from that musty breakroom all those years ago, Jonathan Livingston Seagul just wanted to fly fast and far.  So he did.  He didn't ask whether he was the right kind of bird to fly fast and far.  He didn't worry about what other birds would think of him.  He left those birds behind.  He pushed and pushed until he was a different kind of bird.  And then he pushed and pushed until he was no longer a bird at all.  Not a product of his past, but of his own self determination.  I don't know what any of it means, really, but maybe it's that some people aren't held back by what others see as impossible barriers.  And some people have the capacity, or bandwith to push and stretch and make their lives.  I don't know if it's a natural instinct or something taught, but when you get to see it happen, it's very exciting.