Today I'm going to talk about pride and confidence. Actually I'm just going to talk...

Last night Bruce, Jake and I saw the documentary Scratch. It was an amazing look at the evolution of hip-hop culture and the art of turntablism. The movie showcased some really amazing DJs. The first thing that hit me while watching these DJs perform was that these DJs were the best DJs in the world. From the looks of it, Qbert may be the best DJ to have ever touched the wheels of steel. That's huge. The respect and admiration I had for these guys.... I've never felt that way before. I've never really been a big sports fan so I've never really idolized someone who is "the best" at what they do.

So I started to think about what it would take to become "the best". Sure, you probably have to be born with a certain propensity for your craft, but to say that the talent is purely innate is to show a total lack of respect for the true artist. It takes the kind of hard work and dedications that one rarely gets to witness in our present day of apathy. I'm talking total devotion to the point of near insanity.

There is something else though. In order to be "the best" there is a hurdle you must jump. You can't be "the best" without outdoing those who came before. You have to push the limits... create... take things to a whole new level.

But the world has never been fond of the new.

Think of the courage and confidence it takes to show the world something it hasn't seen before. There will be resistance. There may even be pointing and laughing. We seek acceptance. That's what we do as humans. That's what most people are looking for in life. The true artist has to get past this by realizing that he is creating for himself and no one else. He's not seeking acceptance anymore, nor is he trying to force others to accept his new ideas. He's just displaying them for all to see. A pure expression of self.

Ok. So I was caught in a ramble there. Pride and Confidence.... That's where this started...

I want you all to forget about pride. It does more harm than good.

Self-Confidence. Not necessary. Well, not at least in the sense of self-confidence when dealing with other people. It's our constant quest for universal acceptance that is holding back the human race. It causes tension... anger... sadness... And why? Just because we think that we are able to read the minds of others... and from what we are able to tell from our magically mind reading abilities: The others don't like us!?! Our culture idolizes what we consider to be perfection. The cult of the celebrity. Our reason? It's not respect for what they do! It's jealously for what we think they have. They have the acceptance... and the confidence that we think we lack. But in reality our celebrity icons are one of two things... 1) Scared hollow individuals with less confidence than an pimply faced teenager hiding behind a false ego... 2) Someone who has figured out that they no longer have to seek the acceptance of the rest of the world in order to be happy.

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I went to my girlfriend's work xmas party tonight. I had a really great time. It was wonderful to see all the amazing people she works with and to see them all together and having a great time. I started the night as a stranger... but left with a big smile and some new friends.

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