When I was a teenager communism was on the march, and our “best and brightest” assured us of its ultimate victory, that Soviet world domination was inevitable.
Along came Pope John Paul II, Reagan and Thatcher, who told us no, but rather we would ultimately win out.
Being a contrarian, growing up listening to the idiots who were more scared of Reagan than of Brezhnev, I became that rarest of beasts, a conservative teenager, and determined that I would be a soldier, willing to fight and die to prevent this laughable, inevitable Soviet victory.
I was around 16.
Having decided this path, I set out to pursue it, thought my family has no military tradition, so I was starting from less than zero, yet determined to go to military college.
I learned the requirements, and set out to fulfil them. Successfully. In 1986 I was accepted into Canada’s Royal Military Academy.
Now, we know the Russians never poured through the Fulda gap on their way to Berlin, and I certainly didn’t die trying to stop them.
In fact, my military career was cut short by my mental health problems. Strangely enough, the forces don’t want an undiagnosed clinical depressive in command of their troops.
Yes, I was undiagnosed, but that didn’t mean they didn’t know something was wrong, and make sure I headed back to civvy street.
The experiences along the way, both successes and failures, put me on my present path. A successful one, I might add.
So, whatever your dream, whatever your desire, start. Pursue it.
Chase your dreams.
You may not get where you wanted to go, but you’ll end up where you need to be.
