Guest column
How do you do the impossible?

by Rafe Montello

      Yo, yo, yo, yo, check it out, check it out brothers and sisters.
       According to Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha: We are what we think. All that we are arises
with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.
      How do you do the impossible?
      You don’t.
      How do you do the impossible?
      You Don’t.
      How do you do the impossible?
      YOU DON’T. That’s why it is called the impossible. It’s built into the problem statement.
      How do you do the impossible?
      You do it the way it has always been done, which is by questioning the accuracy of the problem
statement. Consider:
      When Roger Bannister was a boy, a kerosene stove exploded and burnt his legs so badly that
the doctor assured his mother with absolute certainty that poor Roger would never walk again. Not
to be deterred, Mrs. Bannister began massaging Roger’s legs several times a day. As the feeling
in his legs returned, she urged him to try and walk, and then to walk a little more each day.
      The effort paid off. For not only did poor Roger walk again, he was the first person in recorded
history to run a mile in under four minutes. What is most interesting about this story is that at that
time everyone believed it was physically impossible to run a mile in under four minutes. Yet in the
five years following Roger’s accomplishment, 150 people followed in his footsteps. Apparently they
just needed to know it wasn’t impossible after all.
      Before Columbus set off on his voyage to the Far East, everyone was certain the earth was flat
and that his ships would fall off the edge once he reached the end of the earth. Of course, they did
not fall off the edge of the earth because the earth doesn’t have an edge.
      Copernicus, Galileo, and Einstein — to name just a few — all went against ideas that were
accepted as fact at the time, often at great risk. They revolutionized our understanding of the world.
If you believe it can’t happen, it won’t. And it won’t. Because you will not put in the effort that could
make it happen. Alternately, if you have a dream, if you dare to hope, set your eyes on the prize and
strategize to realize what you have inside. You won’t always get there, but as hockey great Wayne
Gretsky said, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”
      Do you want to see America finally get a Black president? Believe it can happen and then get to
work. Strategize before you act. In this case, the media is a major problem. If it is not their fawning
over McCain, it is the outright racist comments made largely by commentators on Fox news. And, of
course, there is the bombastic, unabashedly racist claptrap of Bill O’Reilly.
      Hmm. What to do? What to do? I got it. Why don’t you call up the Madison affiliate and tell them
you will be contacting local advertisers to let them know you will not buy their products as long as
they advertise on FOX. Don’t forget to urge your friends in other parts of the country to do the same.
Think that will shake them up? Why don’t we find out?
      Lastly, why do Madison children of color consistently not do as well as their majority peers?
The problem is more complex than a single answer, but consider if the teacher believes you are a
low academic achiever, how much and what kind of help will you get in school?