After being taunted and mocked by his opponents, even having his head kicked and his integrity questioned, Michael Oher, in a scene from the film The Blind Side, in the next move, grabs hold of the one who goads him and runs him back and back and back, eventually pushing him over the end barrier as his own team scores a touchdown at the opposite end. When confronted by his coach, he simply said he stopped because he heard the whistle, otherwise he would have sent him all the way to his bus. He was unstoppable. Similarly, in the film of his name, Forrest Gump is seen collecting the ball in an American Football game and running downfield, not stopping there but running out the stadium and down the road. Nothing would stop him!
We might just throw in here that the reader should not get this writer started on why we should not stop! The reason is simply because we will not stop, in fact, we cannot stop. Like the advert with a bunny that carries on and on long after others have stopped, due to the superior battery power, we will not stop. For the point is this: What sort of youngster are we wanting to produce from our education system? Surely, the epitome of what we want is that child who goes for it, big time, and will not stop, even when out of school twenty, thirty years on — the ‘unstoppables’.
Such is the one who will stop at nothing in order to achieve her goal. She does not stop or sit back and relax but moves on, forwards. She is like those kombi drivers (no, we did not say ‘zombie drivers’ — even though we might refer to the former as the latter!) who will stop at nothing to take passengers to reach their destination. They will go round this side and that side, even where there is no lane, no assigned route; they would probably just as easily go over the top and underneath simply to achiever their goal. She is like the soccer player whose shot is unstoppable either because it is struck with such force or it is aimed with great accuracy in the gap.
So, before we go on (as on we will go), let us heed this, in the words of a celebrated song: Don’t stop me now. “I’m having a good time!” Many a youngster needs to be following in the tracks, being “Shooting star leaping through the sky like a tiger defying the laws of gravity… burning through the sky, yeah, 200 degrees… travelling at the speed of light… a rocket ship on my way to Mars”. Don’t stop me now! We are having a good time, doing good, seeing good. Unstoppable!
However, words of a song (or from a teacher’s mouth), will not make them get started, let alone not stop. What is the energy, the power in their ‘battery’? Why are such people unstoppable? Belief! They believe in what they are doing; they believe in its value and significance. They believe it will help others. They believe in the principle and the process and want others to find such belief. Like the martyrs of faith, they will go to all ends to share what they have discovered. They will go on and on and on. “Some’ll win, some will lose” but “the movie never ends. It goes on and on and on”. Their belief turns to passion which brings power.
So the unstoppable one goes on and on and on. She will aim higher, dig deeper, do more. She stands for the motto Semper Sublime (meaning loosely ‘Ever Upwards’), ignoring the ridiculous and reaching the sublime. Indeed, her idea of ‘ridiculous’ is not going for the sublime. Sadly, too many people simply stop. Our role must be to produce such youngsters who believe – and tell them, when they do believe, in the words of a powerful song by Journey entitled Don’t Stop Believing.
Why, then, do people stop? Why are they ‘stoppable’? Is it purely fear of failure? Or laziness? Are they showing ignorance, tiredness, disillusionment? Is it a lack of imagination, rather than a lack of opportunity, as opportunities are also made, not just given or created by others? We are not saying our young should be unbeatable; the unstoppables can be beaten but they do not stop then. We are not saying they should be immovable; we want them to move, constantly. We are saying though that the unstoppable one is a beautiful one. So, to those (few) who are unstoppable, we honour and celebrate your unstoppability. Don’t stop believing; carry on with your journey.
Finally, the only thing stopping this rant about being unstoppable is editorial space so be warned: in the classic words of the Terminator films, “I’ll be back”! Don’t stop believing. Touchdown!
